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This week, we’re covering what a meeting of Biden and Xi means for Africa, US$50 billion in climate aid from the Middle East, and Africa at the Grammys. |
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Top newsAre you going to San Francisco? On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trade, Taiwan, and a multitude of geopolitical hotspots were on the agenda. Biden’s goal was to “ratchet down the temperature” between the two countries following a Chinese spy balloon incident in February. The plan seemed to succeed. Biden and Xi sealed a deal to ban artificial intelligence from autonomous weapon systems. This is part of a thaw in chilly relations between the two superpowers. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited China this summer, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan downplayed the idea of decoupling in May. The leaders agreed to pick up the phone to each other when things need to be sorted. Ring ring: One thing that should be on the agenda for their next phone call is the global debt crisis. Half the people on Earth live in countries that spend more on debt service than health or education. But countries in debt distress have been stuck between a geopolitical rock and a hard place over which creditors will take a haircut. There was progress on Zambia’s debt resolution, but it failed to deliver a good deal for the country. It cancelled only the interest that had accrued since Zambia requested a restructuring three 3 years ago. Meanwhile the IMF warned that Chinese lending to sub-Saharan Africa hit a two-decade low. Thawing: In preparation for the meetings, climate envoys from the two countries, John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua, met to reaffirm their commitment to the Paris agreement and staying within 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. They note the “expectation” that developed countries will meet their goal of delivering US$100 billion in climate finance in 2023. Speaking of climate finance, look out for explosive new data from The ONE Campaign in the coming weeks. Eyes on Sudan: Half of Sudan’s population needs humanitarian assistance, as fighting between the country’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces continues into a seventh month. And yet a UN appeal for US$2.3 billion in aid to help just half of those in need has only garnered one-third of the funding requested. Western media last focused on Sudan to detail how Western countries were pulling their nationals out of the country. Seven months later, the RSF has taken control of most of the Darfur region. This has come with increasing accounts of escalating attacks against the region’s Masalit minority group by the RSF and allied Arab militias. Some are worried that ongoing peace talks between the two warring sides may sacrifice Darfur to the RSF and lead to a Libya scenario where the country is administered by two separate governments. Oil money for climate: The Arab Coordination Group pledged US$50 billion in support of climate resilience in African countries at a summit in Saudi Arabia. The first Saudi-Africa summit ended with host Saudi Arabia pledging to invest over US$500 million into new projects and a roadmap for continued collaboration. It’s part of the kingdom's wider vision of investing US$25 billion into Africa before 2030. Judging by the presence of military leaders from Gabon and Niger at the summit, it looks like their recent coups will not deter Saudi Arabia from continuing to support counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel, unlike some Western countries (*cough* France). The summit's joint declaration points to a deepening of relations beyond issues of security, outlining planned cooperation across a wide range of arenas encompassing economic, political, military, cultural, and humanitarian affairs. Fair shares: What does the International Monetary Fund's recently proposed quota increase mean for African countries? Not as much as it could have. Quotas serve a variety of functions in the IMF. Their absolute value determines the maximum amounts a country can contribute to and borrow from the IMF, while a country’s relative share determines its voting power and share of special drawing rights in a general allocation. The good news: If approved, the proposal could help increase and stabilise the fund’s lending capacity and increase the amount members can borrow from it. That's a win for countries in financial distress. The not-so-good news: The proposal changes nothing in terms of countries' voting power and share of SDRs. That means power and the liquidity offered by SDRs will remain concentrated in the hands of the advanced economies that make up the largest shareholders of the fund. Thankfully, Africa’s representation in the fund was recently boosted by an approved third African seat on the executive board. Let’s hope that helps usher in more beneficial reform moving forward. Tax wars: European and UK diplomats are allegedly derailing negotiations to give the UN a larger role in international tax coordination. Their actions prompted an appeal from former South African President Thabo Mbeki to re-engage in the negotiations in good faith. The negotiations stem from efforts by a group of 54 African countries to bring reform of the global tax system under the auspices of the UN. This has ruffled the feathers of member states of the OECD, the organisation that has led on international tax reform for decades. Despite recent progress on a two-pillar solution targeting corporate tax abuse by multinationals, the OECD has come under criticism for lacking ambition and not taking into consideration the particular needs of lower-income countries. This year’s State of Tax Justice report doesn’t help the OECD’s case. Based on OECD data, the report finds that OECD countries and their dependencies are the biggest enablers of corporate tax abuse, accounting for 70% of the US$311 billion the world loses annually in direct tax revenue. Liberia decides: Liberians took to the polls on Tuesday to cast their votes in the run-off election between incumbent president and former football star George Weah and his opponent, political veteran Joseph Boakai. Weah was unable to achieve a decisive victory in the first round in October, with 44.83% of votes to Boakai’s 43.44%. Critics of Weah question whether he did enough in his first term to curb corruption and boost employment. And Boakai, while a familiar face as former vice president, would add to the ranks of Africa’s many septuagenarian leaders. Not so Braverman: The UK’s Supreme Court ruled that a plan to deport asylum seekers arriving in Britain to Rwanda is unlawful. Rwanda pocketed £140 million for the deal. The plan was proposed by Suella Braverman, who was sacked from her role as the home secretary this week. In a reshuffle, aid champion, former Prime Minister, and ONE Board member David Cameron was appointed foreign secretary. Africa at the Grammys: Six African artists have received nominations for the 2024 Grammy Awards. This follows the introduction of the “Best African Music Performance category,” itself a testament to the undeniable pervasiveness of African music on the global stage. Afrobeats stalwarts Burna Boy and Davido lead with two nominations each and will go head-to-head for Best African Music Performance and Best Global Music Album. The Grammys also gave a nod to the new school of African talent, with nominations for Nigeria’s Asake and Ayra Starr, as well as South Africa’s Tyla. Tyla may be the youngest of the nominees and the newest on the music scene, but her charting on the Billboard Hot 100 signals the growing broad appeal of African music. Countdown: A landmark report from the Lancet medical journal highlights the true impact of climate change on health. Drawing on the expertise of 114 scientists and health practitioners from 52 research institutions, the Lancet Countdown revealed that a higher frequency of heatwaves and droughts in 2021 was associated with 127 million more people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity. The changing climatic conditions are also putting more populations at risk of life-threatening infectious diseases, such as dengue, malaria, vibriosis, and West Nile virus. Heat exposure led to income losses worth US$863 billion in 2022. If global temperatures continue to rise to just under 2°C, annual heat-related deaths are projected to increase by 370% by midcentury. They could also push half a billion people into hunger. From the ONE Team
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The ONE Campaign’s data.one.org provides cutting edge data and analysis on the economic, political, and social changes impacting Africa. Check it out HERE. |
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