Africa heading for 2009 growth due to China

[polaris]

Africa heading for 2009 growth due to China

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/nelson/newmediadev/files/china_africa.png')

http://ceconomy.blogspot.com/

All African economies bar South Africa will grow this year because of China's demand for their raw materials, a leading South African analyst said on Monday.

Out of 53 African states only the continent's biggest economy, South Africa, will not grow this year, Martyn Davies, executive director of Stellenbosch University's Centre for Chinese Studies, told a conference.

"Chinese demand is underpinning African growth," he told the conference on China, organised by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).

Africa is already exporting 1 million barrels per day of oil to China, accounting for 25 percent of China's foreign energy supplies, said Davies, who is also chief executive of emerging market investment strategist Frontier Advisory.

These links are based on strong support by African leaders for Chinese investment in extractive industries -- in contrast to objections raised to Chinese investment in sensitive sectors in developed countries, he said.

China's engagement in Africa -- where it is the biggest trading partner -- reflects both state enterprises benefiting from preferential capital from state banks, and private entrepreneurs, of whom around 1 million may now be in Africa, he said.

China's export prowess has so far failed to provoke much protectionism in Africa, except, again, in South Africa, where sensitive labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and light industry compete with Chinese firms.

Chinese imports from Africa come in at an average tariff of 0.64 percent -- almost the duty-free level sought by developing countries in rich markets -- because of China's eagerness to facilitate imports of African energy and commodities.

Conversely, China faces considerable protectionist sentiment outside Africa, said Simon Evenett co-director of St Gallen University's Centre for Economic Policy Research.

According to Global Trade Alert, a website run by academics that Evenett co-founded, China is now the most targeted country for trade measures such as anti-dumping duties and safeguards, a trend likely to increase as the global economy and international trade recover, Evenett told the conference.

"They can expect to be targeted even more. Now that world trade flows are increasing is perversely going to make it easier to demonstrate that Chinese imports are causing injury," he said.

[Guo Xiang]

According to Global Trade Alert, a website run by academics that Evenett co-founded, China is now the most targeted country for trade measures such as anti-dumping duties and safeguards, a trend likely to increase as the global economy and international trade recover, Evenett told the conference.

"They can expect to be targeted even more. Now that world trade flows are increasing is perversely going to make it easier to demonstrate that Chinese imports are causing injury," he said.

The same countries have no squirms about using cheap and grossly underpaid workers in China to sell their expensive products...

Oh. I guess they won't be making complaints about that anytime soon.

DUUH.

[Xiang Yu]

The same countries have no squirms about using cheap and grossly underpaid workers in China to sell their expensive products...

Oh. I guess they won't be making complaints about that anytime soon.

DUUH.

Well said, would love to see their double standard faces when they suddenly have to whip out 300 dollars just to be able to jog in their favorite 'made in China' Nike's.

[polaris]

China pledges 10 billion dollars for Africa

http://ceconomy.blogspot.com/

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — China's pledge of 10 billion dollars in concessional loans to African states and enhanced trade was warmly received by African delegates as a two-day summit in Egypt ended on Monday.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's aid promise was welcomed despite some lingering suspicions that Beijing is interested in Africa only for its resources, including oil, to fuel a booming economy.

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, began on Sunday with Wen announcing the 10 billion dollars in loans among a series of measures to be implemented before the next forum, due in 2012.

FOCAC meets every three years.

At a news conference at the end of the gathering in Egypt's resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming also promised to open Chinese markets to African exports and help Africa adapt to climate change.

Chinese companies will be directed to "assume more social responsibility in Africa and create job opportunities in African countries so the people of Africa can get the benefits from Sino-African cooperation," he said.

In an earlier speech, Chen said Beijing was "committed to... going all out to assist African countries in improving their agricultural production and infrastructure."

Wen said on Sunday China's package of assistance and investment in the African continent would focus on reducing poverty and aid for infrastructure and agriculture.

China is also promising to remove tariffs on most goods from the least developed African countries.

On Monday Chen said Beijing's aid was "selfless and unconditional."

The Asian giant's pledges have received an enthusiastic reception from African delegations, despite some accusations that China's interest in Africa focuses on its abundant natural resources, including oil.

Throughout the gathering, Chinese officials repeatedly addressed such accusations, with Wen on Sunday calling them "untenable."

"Our assistance towards Africa is based on improving people's lives and protecting the environment," Chen told Monday's news conference.

China has also been accused of throwing a lifeline to African regimes accused of human rights violations and creating further debt among nations on the continent.

But Chen said that China would exempt heavily indebted countries from paying low interest loans due this year.

African officials have welcomed the pledges, and insisted that they have the independence to choose what aid they receive from Beijing.

"You don't take what the Chinese offer you 100 percent, you take what suits you," Zainab Bangura, Sierra Leone's foreign minister, told AFP.

Bangura said China has built hospitals and roads in the poverty-ridden country.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula defended the burgeoning relationship between Nairobi and Beijing, saying Africa was a victim of European double standards.

"Africa is hungry for development. Africa has lagged behind for too long (and) has always been treated and judged with very, very lopsided standards," Wetangula told AFP.

"The standards that Europe has been imposing on Africa are not the same standards Europe imposes on Eastern Europe, for example," he said.

"And here the Chinese are coming and saying: 'You want a railway line? We have the money and the technology to build it for you.' Who will not take that?"

Wetangula also said Kenya would not take sides between China and the United States in competing for influence in the continent.

"We are not abandoning our traditional friends for China. We will not engage any contact that discards old friends for new friends."

Both Wetangula and Bangura said they also wanted to see more trade between African countries themselves, which Wetangula said stood only at only 10 percent of the continent's trade.

[Guo Xiang]

Oh come on. Some countries are just pissed off that China gets to rip off Africa ahead of them.

Why bother hiding behind that fake honourable shield when the purpose is all the same. At least China is doing something.