Africa's Pulse, No. 21, Spring 2020: An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future
Author: Albert G. Zeufack
Publisher:
Published: 2020
Total Pages:
ISBN-13:
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Africa's Pulse, No. 21, Spring 2020
Author: Cesar Calderon
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Published: 2020-04-07
Total Pages: 136
ISBN-13: 1464815682
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on human life and brought major disruption to economic activity across the world. Despite a late arrival, the COVID-19 virus has spread rapidly across Sub-Saharan Africa in recent weeks. Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to decline from 2.4 percent in 2019 to -2.1 to -5.1 percent in 2020, the first recession in the region in 25 years. The coronavirus is hitting the region’s three largest economies —Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola— in a context of persistently weak growth and investment. In particular, countries that depend on oil and mining exports would be hit the hardest. The negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on household welfare would be equally dramatic. African policymakers need to develop a two-pronged strategy of “saving lives and protecting livelihoods.†? This strategy includes relief measures and recovery measures aimed at strengthening health systems, providing income support to workers and liquidity support to viable businesses. However, financing of these policies will be challenging amid deteriorating fiscal positions and heightened public debt vulnerabilities. Therefore, African countries will require financial assistance from their development partners -including COVID-19 related multilateral assistance and a debt service stand still with creditors.
COVID-19 and food (in)security in Africa: Review of the emerging empirical evidence
Author: Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Published: 2022-05-11
Total Pages: 29
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKCOVID-19 risks rolling back many of the efforts and global successes recorded in reducing poverty and food insecurity. We undertake a systematic review of the growing microeconomic literature on the association between COVID-19 and food (in)security in Africa, discussing its implications for food policy and research. In doing so, we highlight some of the methodological weaknesses in answering policy-relevant questions on the causal link between COVID-19 and food insecurity. We also review the various coping strategies households are using to build resilience to COVID-19 and explore the role of social protection and other tools in mitigating some of the negative effects of COVID-19. This review provides evidence that COVID-19 is associated with food insecurity both ex-ante and ex-durante. There are many attempts to suggest this relationship may be causal with some robust methods in some contexts, but data limitations prevail which constrains causal learning. We also find evidence that income losses, loss of employment, and heightened food prices may be mediating the relationship between COVID-19 and food insecurity. Going further, we additionally review the mitigating role of social protection and remittances in reducing the negative effects of COVID-19 on food insecurity. Relatedly, we also show evidence that households are using various coping strategies such as food rationing and dietary change to cushion themselves against the COVID-19 shock but most of these measures remain adversely correlated with food insecurity. We end with a discussion on some potential interesting areas where future efforts can be geared to improve learning on the relationship between COVID-19, food insecurity, and building resilience to shocks.
Mining Law and Governance in Africa
Author: Victoria R. Nalule
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2023-06-09
Total Pages: 365
ISBN-13: 1000869504
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book explores the various issues that characterise the African mining sector, drawing examples from different African countries and regional organisations. Although there is a massive literature on the subject, some issues have been neglected, including the crucial role of digitalisation and technological advancement in resolving the environmental and social challenges faced in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM), deep-sea mining, mining contract negotiations and modernising mining laws to reflect the increasing role of critical minerals, to mention but a few. Therefore, the book unpacks the critical issues associated with the mining sector, explicitly reflecting on the practical solutions needed to address the challenges in the African mining sector. This book uniquely analyses and adds flavour to international mining’s fundamental concepts by describing a simulated annealing-based approach appropriate for complex mining projects in Africa. Book contributors comprise of academics from different universities including professors, practitioners, government policymakers, NGO executives and a variety of different experts. This multidisciplinary book will be of interest to African policymakers, governments, academics, industry professionals, energy and mining institutions, international organisations, universities across the globe and companies.
Staple Food Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Empirical Assessment
Author: Cedric Okou
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Published: 2022-07-08
Total Pages: 44
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis paper analyzes the domestic and external drivers of local staple food prices in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using data on domestic market prices of the five most consumed staple foods from 15 countries, this paper finds that external factors drive food price inflation, but domestic factors can mitigate these vulnerabilities. On the external side, our estimations show that Sub-Saharan African countries are highly vulnerable to global food prices, with the pass-through from global to local food prices estimated close to unity for highly imported staples. On the domestic side, staple food price inflation is lower in countries with greater local production and among products with lower consumption shares. Additionally, adverse shocks such as natural disasters and wars bring 1.8 and 4 percent staple food price surges respectively beyond generalized price increases. Economic policy can lower food price inflation, as the strength of monetary policy and fiscal frameworks, the overall economic environment, and transport constraints in geographically challenged areas account for substantial cross-country differences in staple food prices.
Education in Troubled Times
Author: Yahia Baiza
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Published: 2022-08-22
Total Pages: 403
ISBN-13: 1527586030
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis volume presents a scholarly conversation about education in troubled times across different temporal and spatial contexts. The concept of troubled times in this book refers to situations of serious challenges or crises that affect the practice of education at community, national and global levels. It examines how education operates across a wide range of challenging circumstances, from the COVID-19 pandemic, political manipulations, and the neoliberal economy to conflict and post-conflict situations. The volume also considers the measures national governments should take to contain and mitigate their effects, and how effective these measures are in curbing such challenges. By addressing these questions, it also suggests ways to overcome the identified challenges and crises in their respective contexts.
G20 Economic Policy
Author: Marcello Minenna
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2024-07-26
Total Pages: 289
ISBN-13: 1040092802
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book examines the statistics of the G-20 members with the goal of providing an analysis of their economic policies, with a particular emphasis on the financial dynamics of each country's Balance of Payments, in order to offer a framework for better understanding where we are headed in an era of great economic and geopolitical reconfiguration. Furthermore, it delves into the current challenges to the US-led monopolar world that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union, beginning with the rise of China and India alongside Russia, and their potential role in reshaping the global financial system. The focus also extends to South America, where economies such as Brazil and Argentina are navigating complex relationships with traditional allies and emerging global powers. Africa's position in this evolving landscape is also analyzed, highlighting its growing autonomy as exemplified by the African Union's inclusion in the G-20. Furthermore, the Middle East is undergoing a remarkable geopolitical shift, undoubtedly representing another node of power in the emerging economic chessboard. These geopolitical dynamics are further complicated by major global events, including the 2008 global financial crisis, the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict in 2022. Pressing challenges are also posed by the climate emergency, highlighting its direct impact on productivity and migration patterns. Finally, this book seeks to contribute to a nuanced understanding of the current economic realities of key global actors and their complex interplay with geopolitical choices. Based on a scholarly approach, the analysis provides insights into the complex and evolving global order.
Africa's Fourth Industrial Revolution
Author: Landry Signé
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2023-03-31
Total Pages: 271
ISBN-13: 1009200046
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExamines the meaning, drivers, and implications of the growth of new technologies, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution for Africa.
Modeling Economic Growth in Contemporary Indonesia
Author: Bruno S. Sergi
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Published: 2022-05-26
Total Pages: 268
ISBN-13: 1802624333
DOWNLOAD EBOOKModeling Economic Growth in Contemporary Indonesia explores Indonesia's most recent business and economic developments with chapters covering topics such as SMEs, public companies, stock markets, government, or non-profit organizations to explain the economic growth and relevant factors.
Smallholder farmers’ participation in profitable value chains and contract farming: Evidence from irrigated agriculture in Egypt
Author: Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Published: 2023-01-31
Total Pages: 30
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe participation of smallholder farmers in high-value and profitable value chains as well as contract farming remains low in Africa. This paper aims to identify observable and unobservable constraints that explain joint participation in profitable value chains and contract farming. We use a multivariate probit model to estimate potential complementarities between the cultivation of these various value chains (vegetables, fruits, spices, herbs, and cereals), and participation in contract farming. We identify several important observable factors that reinforce and hence limit smallholders’ participation in both low and high value chains as well as contract farming. For example, we find suggestive evidence that smallholders in Egypt face a trade-off between ensuring food security to their households and maximizing profit, and land plays a major factor in moderating this trade-off. We find that farmers with limited land resources are more likely to devote a larger share of their land to low-value crops such as cereals while this pattern weakens with increasing land size and slightly reverses for high-value crops such as spices and herbs. This suggests until some level of land resources, food security goals may dominate profit motives while this reverses after ensuring that food security goals are achieved. Younger and wealthier farmers are more likely to participate in the cultivation of high-value crops such as spices and herbs as well as contract farming. We also document strong complementarities between participation in high-value value chains and contract farming. Particularly, farmers who cultivate high-value crops are more likely to be engaged in contract farming. Intuitively, this implies that addressing smallholders’ binding constraints, including risk and access to land, can encourage participation in profitable value chains and contract farming. Our findings offer suggestive evidence that may serve in targeting smallholders to join profitable value chains in Egypt and other comparable contexts.
