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Africa’s Export Performance Still Dismal, Says UNCTAD (16.09.08)

Despite the liberalisation of trade over more than two decades, the level and composition of Africa’s exports have not substantially changed, according to the 2008 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on economic development in Africa.

Tags: development, Africa, trade, globalisation, economics on 2008-09-16 and saved by2 people -All Annotations (5) -About

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Intraregional trade accounted for only eight percent of total African exports in 2006 -- a much lower figure than in other regions.

This can be explained by the fact that products from African countries tend to be similar in nature, thereby limiting the complimentarity of exports. Second, the infrastructure for intra-African trade is often poor, which leads to high transaction costs.

And third, despite the many regional agreements in place, these are generally slow to be implemented. There is also little private sector involvement, compared with their equivalents in Europe, Latin America or Asia.
The report identifies Africa’s weak supply response as the most important impediment to the continent’s export performance. Export policies should focus more on ways to increase production for export.
tackling supply-side constraints with bigger incentives to encourage investment in agriculture.
governments have to develop programmes that promote diversification towards higher value added products. These will enable African countries to increase their gains from agricultural production and trade. It will also permit governments to reduce their vulnerability to commodity price volatility.
promote regional economic cooperation and South-South trade

Erdgas-Vertrag mit Turkmenistan: das »Great Game« um Energie in Eurasien | F.W. Engdahl (06.08.08)

Hier im Westen sind sich nur Wenige darüber bewusst, dass Turkmenistan der Dreh- und Angelpunkt der gesamten eurasischen Energiestrategie Russlands ist. Seit dem Tod des absolutistischen Präsidenten Saparmurat Niasow (der auf Lebenszeit regierte) im Dezember 2006 gibt es hinter den Kulissen eine erbitterte Auseinandersetzung zwischen Washington und Moskau über den Zugriff auf die riesigen Erdgasvorkommen der ehemaligen Sowjetrepublik. Wie es jetzt aussieht, haben möglicherweise Moskau und »Gazprom« den Kampf für sich entschieden; damit wäre ein wichtiger Schritt getan, die Energiekarte auszuspielen, um der Einkreisungsstrategie Washingtons und der NATO zu begegnen.

Tags: oil_gas, NATO, US, energie, Turkmenistan, russland, Russia, trade, economics on 2008-08-09 -All Annotations (0) -About

more frominfo.kopp-verlag.de

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Trade in Africa: Exports Are the Best Way to Develop | Stephanie Nieuwoudt, IPS (04.08.08)

Lack of export orientation in the past has caused economic failures in African countries, which is why these countries should focus on exports to build industries.

Tags: Africa, economics, trade, development, globalisation, poverty on 2008-08-05 -All Annotations (0) -About

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After colonisation there were high rates of economic growth between 1960 and 1975. Africa's share in the global industry rose from seven to eight percent.
African economies were based on import substitution instead of export-oriented industrialisation.

Countries did not invest in manufacturing plants -- for example the motor industry, heavy machinery and mining. Instead the focus was on reducing imports and producing primary commodities such as tobacco or manufactured goods such as beverage and clothing and leather products. Import substitution led to ‘‘shallow industrialisation’’.

There was also no cohesion of industrial projects and a failure to deepen import-substitution industrialisation through regional integration.
The economies of the developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa not only stagnated but actually declined. De-industrialisation took place and led to the demise of institutions and capacity.

The harmful legacy of a lack of export-driven industrialisation is again becoming apparent in the current global economic climate. Although the World Bank cited an increase of exports from 5.7 billion dollars in 1990 to 12.5 billion dollars in 2005, there is a false optimism
as the exports were mainly in the form of raw products by multinational companies whose headquarters are elsewhere.
Some analysts argue that the services industry -- e.g. communication technology and tourism – is more important than the manufacturing industry.
Corruption has also been identified as a hurdle to growth and development in Africa.
‘‘In Asia corruption, or rent seeking and rent creation, is rampant.

‘‘But in these countries rents were achievable through activities which served national interests and the realisation of rents was related to performance standards. In other words, money from corruption was kept in the country, which benefited the national economy.

‘‘In contrast many leaders in Africa have used graft money to open Swiss bank accounts, which does not benefit their countries."
‘‘Africa has to rethink regional cooperation. Early ideas of regional integration assumed planned national economies that somehow allocated activities among themselves in a planned way. This failed.

‘‘Current regional integration policies assume that the markets in neoliberal member states will grow if the state provides infrastructure and some regional regulatory bodies. However, this is not working, hence the need for a rethink.’’

China plans to challenge World Trade Organization findings on tariff violations | JURIST (22.07.08)

re: auto parts

Tags: China, GATT, WTO, trade, tariff, economics, law on 2008-07-24 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromjurist.law.pitt.edu

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Africa's Concerns over Chinese Investment and Working Conditions | IPS (18.06.08)

Chinese investment in African countries comes with few strings attached – which is exactly what concerns civil society organisations

Tags: Africa, China, trade, WTO, globalisation, HumanRights on 2008-06-19 -All Annotations (0) -About

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First of all, loans offered by China are not transparent and neither do they come with conditions on how the money should be spent. This could fuel corruption, as African governments are free to use the money as they wish. This could have negative results.
You can’t just hand over a blank cheque to the minister of finance and assume everything will be okay. We the people need to know how the money will be spent. And China, or any other donor, needs to hold the recipient authorities accountable for that.
Another point of concern among African civil society is the influx of Chinese labourers in Africa, a continent where millions of people are unemployed.
‘‘Last year, operations at a Chinese-owned coal mine in the south of Zambia were suspended due to unsafe working conditions. Most labourers were half naked and didn’t have protective clothing, dust masks, hard hats or shoes.’’
‘‘When a cabinet minister attempted to visit to the mine, Chinese managers prevented her from doing so. They said it was ‘their mine’. In the end the minister was given a tour. According to the minister’s report, the labourers were treated like animals. The mine was closed for a short while but then opened again.’’

Efficient anarchy | Peter T. Leeson (2006)

Can anarchy be efficient? This paper argues that for reasons of efficiency, rational, wealth-maximizing agents may actually choose statelessness over government in some cases. Where markets are sufficiently thin or where government is prohibitively costly, anarchy is the efficient mode of social organization. If total social wealth under conditions of relatively lower levels of trade is not substantially smaller than it is under conditions of relatively higher levels of trade, the cost of government may exceed the social benefits it provides. Likewise, if the cost of a state is sufficiently large, even substantial differences in social wealth under these two scenarios may prove too small to justify the formation of government from a cost-benefit perspective. The framework I provide explains the persistence of anarchy in two major areas where we tend to observe it: among primitive societies and at the global level.

Tags: trade, anarchy, government on 2008-06-08 -All Annotations (0) -About

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"Developed Countries Should Contribute the Most" | IPS (06.06.08)

Tension in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on industrial goods reached such an extreme that the diplomat leading the talks on cutting tariffs, Canadian ambassador Don Stephenson, decided this week to suspend the discussions.

Tags: trade, WTO, tariff, food, globalisation on 2008-06-08 -All Annotations (0) -About