Development and Economic Growth

Despite the scintillating promises it holds, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is only a necessary, not a sufficient condition for a structural transformation and global convergence of Africa. The substantial efforts to pass the sufficient test rest upon transcending the colonial model of resource extraction economy.  In a blow to the gravity trade […]

One of the debates among economic development experts is whether the African continent can skip manufacturing and move into the service industry to achieve economic development. Africa is blessed with abundant land and other natural resources, yet the continent is still grappling with myriad of challenges such as of food security and lack of sufficient […]

The implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has the potential to increase Africa’s exports by more than US$ 560 billion. This was disclosed by Dr. Hippolyte Fofack, Chief Economist of Afreximbank, while referring to a World Bank data during a lecture at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Fofack stated this during the Africa […]

Former South Korean minister of trade, Dr. Taeho Bark has encouraged African countries to learn from South Korea by focusing on exports.  Dr. Bark, a senior visiting scholar, Korea project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfar Center stated this during a lecture on South Korea’s new external economic strategies at the Kennedy School.  “At beginning of […]

As Zimbabwe heads to the polls in April 2023, spokesperson for the opposition Citizen Coalition for Change, Fadzayi Mahere, has stated that it is time for the youth to take over the mantle of leadership in the country. Mahere was speaking during an interview with Africa Policy Journal in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There are more than […]

While CBDCs hold tremendous potential in closing the financial inclusion gap in LAC, they will also encounter many roadblocks generated by cultural, social, and economic determinants. Central banks and other authorities will be tasked with no less than integrating the vulnerable and marginalized into the financial system.  Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have recently taken […]

In this #APJChat, Africa Policy Journal Editor-In-Chief Ada Ezeokoli speaks with Claude Grunitzky, CEO and Managing Partner of The Equity Alliance Fund, and Founder of TRUE Africa, about his journey as a serial entrepreneur, and what he hopes to contribute to building Africa’s future.

Notwithstanding COVID-19’s sudden and damaging blemish on African Foreign Direct Investment, the continent has been subject to consistently increasing foreign investment in recent history. From US$ 1.1 billion per year in the 1970s to US$ 2.2 billion in the 1980s to more than US$ 35 billion on average during the 2000-2008 period, multinationals are looking […]

After decades of inaction, humanity faces potential extinction through an ecological collapse of its own making.1 Climate change, ocean acidification, mass extinction, soil depletion, acid rain, rising seas, extreme weather, unstoppable wildfires, pollution, deforestation, and desertification would each be immense challenges for global governance individually—thecombination seems insurmountable, but because all share an underlying cause, there […]

On March 13th, SPJ hosted its first virtual discussion of the Spring semester. It was motivated by the announcement of Singapore’s Green Plan 2030, a cross-ministry initiative promoting ‘sustainable development’ in the city-state. In light of this, the discussion centered around the tensions and tradeoffs between the environment and the economy.

We must revisit the question of alternatives to development aid. Amid the crisis of the pandemic, mutual aid, which has been utilized as a political survival tactic throughout history, has re-emerged as an alternative to institutional aid. How can this concept be applied to the development context?

The current COVID-19 pandemic has placed a stranglehold on the world economy, and China has been no exception. Significantly, these effects have rippled across many countries that have benefitted from China’s lending spree over the past two decades, and whose economies have now taken a plunge. Many, if not all, are now in desperate need […]