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Nov
28
Page on Podcasts
Filed Under News | Leave a Comment
Nov
28
A New Book on China and Africa
Filed Under News | 2 Comments
Nov
22
Taxing Copper in Zambia
Filed Under News, Opinion | 6 Comments
“With a gun onto our head”
This information is from a BBC programme by Maurice Walsh on taxation. Mr. Walsh interviews Edith Nawakwi, the finance minister when the mining deals were negotiated. Ms. Nawakwi describes the situation under which she assumed the position of finance minister in 1997 as one in which they were losing the equivalent of a million dollars a day from the mining sector. On her first day at work she signed the papers of a loan of 50 million dollars, The money was used to pay the salary of mine workers. Because copper prices were low, and the government was losing money, the IMF and the World Bank ‘advised’ the Zambian government to get rid of the mining companies. The government was obviously in a disadvantaged position during the negotiations that eventually led to the privatisation of the mines.Ms. Nawakwi says:
Here is a country, you have no money, and the only people who can give money are the World Bank and IMF, and the creditors. And your colleagues wil say, Madam, we are not giving you any money. Get rid of your assets which are making you lose moey because you will be saving a million dollars a day if you don’t have that mine. And truly, I want you to understand that whatever has happened to this country, I think the 1990s were the worst. It was like Zambia was really negotiating this agreement with a gun onto our head.
Of mistakes and more mistakes
The main problem was that no provision for a change in the tax regime whenever there was an increase in the international price of copper. When Maurice interviewed a representative of the mine workers, he answered only very few of the questions he was asked. And when the current finance minister, Ng’andu Magande,was asked, he counselled patience, saying, “Copper investors have been investing in the last three four years…. While the prices have been going up, we have not achieved the production levels that we had in the 1980s. So while people might say the copper prices have been going up, the production level has not increased as much as the price, because the investors are still investing.” Hmm… I readily complain about resource curse, but I find it appalling when a government minister does not drive a hard bargain with the mining companies, especially as it is widely known that the price of copper will not stay high forever.
Nigeria?
After listening to this documentary, I was interested in knowing the details of the deals between Nigeria and the oil companies. Actually, this post was written partly because I am interested in finding out exactly how much oil companies pay to Nigeria. I am sure that someone has done - or is still doing - a PhD on the topic. So please, anyone who has any information about the details of the deal between Nigeria and the oil companies should please leave it as a comment. And anyone who is an expert on Zambia should please leave some information that might help us better understand the situation with the mines.
The information on the mines in the post was got from here
Nov
21
Resource Curse
Filed Under News | 3 Comments
The article says
It is still not clear what exactly prevents resource-rich countries from making use of their resource endowments. The newly emerging consensus among economists is that resource abundance slows down, or may even revert, development of growth-enhancing institutions.
It goes on to say
Recently, it has been widely discussed by policymakers and the media. In particular, the New York Times’ columnist Tom Friedman’s formulated it as the First Law of Petropolitics: high oil prices stifle the development of democracy and political and economic freedom in oil-rich countries.
Generally, there is nothing new in the arguments advanced in the paper, but anyone who wants to know the opinion of economists on the effect of oil - and a rise in oil prices - on governance issues like transparency - both in the public and the private sector - and press freedom should have a look at it.
Nov
18
Size and cost
The Economist did a special report on technology in India and China in their November 10th - 16th edition. Part of the report says that China’s biggest advantage - while discussing technological innovations - is the shere size of its market. That statement was made in relation to the role of “venturesome and resourceful customers” in steering technological innovation. The principle is simple: a company does not need to wait till it has perfected its products before presenting it to the public. Because China has a huge population that is gradually becoming more and more economically empowered, you can throw what is not yet perfect to the market, and then let the feedback determine areas that need attention. It is best captured by this statement, “You can afford to waste some customers with imperfect product, because there are always another 100m out there to whom you can sell version 2.0.” If we translate that to other parts of the economy, one would realise that shere population is strength for both China and India. There is a large chance for a country that is growing to expand inside itself as more and more citizens gain economic strength. In other words, simply empowering the citizens provides a space for economic growth. Also, there is a tendency for the country to attract FDI, based simply on the size of its market.
Another advantage that one keeps hearing about is the price of labour in China. With an increasing population of members of the middle class, and a large army of cheap labour to boot, China seems not only to be ready for growth based on the strength of an increasing middle class, but also because of its large army of cheap labour. With this large army, it can produce at a very cheap rate for exportation. And it has been doing this. One major point that is sometimes missing in the moral debate on China’s business in Africa is that there is a large amount of made-in-China products in African markets, and these goods are so cheap that they sell more cheaply than locally produced ones. The price of labour is also an important attraction for FDI.
Please, help!
What exactly do I need help with? The problem is this: what is the comparative advantage that African countries have? Why would African countries be attractive for production and not just servicing? I think of shere size of population in the case of China and India, and I think of cheap labour, especially in the case of China. Are African countries doomed to simply supplying developed and emerging economies with raw materials to which value is added and then brought back to be sold in African countries? I am asking for help because it seems that my rudimentary knowledge of economics cannot fully appreciate the situation.
Nov
15
A friend introduced me to Asa’s music sometime ago - actually, I listened to her Bi ban’ ke and instantly liked the sound of her voice. I stumbled on her Myspace page today, and from there went to her website. I tried out samples of her songs and I really liked it. I tried to buy the album on iTunes, but it was only available in the French store. Someone should tell iTunes to make their stores available globally.
Asa (pronounced asha) is a Nigerian lady who was born in Paris but grew up in Lagos. She later returned to Paris, where, according to her bio, she played with Les Nubians, Manu Dibango, Doctor L, and Tony Allen. Her first album was released on 16 October 2007. Sometimes, her lyrics are unpretentiously didactic, like in Fire on the Mountain and Jailer, but then, even those who don’t like ‘preachy’ songs will find her melody enchanting. Here is her Myspace page, and here is her website. Let’s know what you think!
Nov
14
Nov
12
Development and ‘The African Culture’
Filed Under Opinion | 4 Comments
“Compared to the rest of the world
Africa has been described as the atypical, both economically and politically. The relationship of dependence that exists between the aid donors andAfrica also fuels the discourse of docility, laziness and dependence. For instance, Joseph Hanlon (2004: 382) raises, ‘… the fundamental question that has dogged charity and aid in the West for more than a century: are the poor poor simply because they lack money, or are they poor because of their own stupidity and cupidity?’ However, as I said earlier, the way these discourses are structured almost make them immune to critical reviews. I will toe the trail of Mbembe on this point. These studies of Africa have been in relation to what is lacking in Africa, and this in itself is a product of the comparison ofAfrica to the West, using paradigms that are products of Western modernisation. As Mbembe (2001: 9) writes, this has led to the paradoxes that ‘we know nearly everything that African states, societies, and economies are not, we still know absolutely nothing about what they actually are.’ I will join my voice to that of Mbembe for the call for studies of Africa that do not pitch her against the west, and do not use western paradigms; studies that consider the realities of Africans, their experiences and interactions with globalisation and ‘westernisation’; studies that do not take Africa as a single culture but look at the nuances in the identity of Africans and their constant negotiation of a place for themselves. Until African studies are approached in this way certain formulations will keep showing that the African is ‘docile’, ‘passive’ and ‘lazy’.Works Cited
Hanlon Joseph, 2002. ‘It is possible to just give money to the poor.’ Development and Change 35 (2): 375 – 383Mbembe, Achille. 2001. Introduction: Time on the move. In: Mbembe, Achille, On the Postcolony. (
Berkeley :University ofCalifornia Press).“
Nov
11
Today at Home, Exploring Blogs
Filed Under Experiences, Reviews | 1 Comment
Although I had already visited
Nov
10
November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian writer, environmental activist and president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), was put to death by the Nigerian government. Hanged along with him were eight other activists. They were condemned to death after being convicted by a military tribunal of four counts of murder. The act was condemned by many world leaders, including the then president of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela, who said that his country’s delegation to the meeting of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of member-countries of the old British empire, would recommend Nigeria’s suspension from the association. The Commonwealth of Nations was meeting in New Zealand at the time of the execution. The following day, a suspension from the association was announced, along with sanctions from both the Commonwealth of Nations and the European Union. Of course, they continued to buy oil from Nigeria.
AllAfrica News: Trade- Southern Africa: Will Zim Fully Enjoy FTA Benefits?
- Cameroon: China Invades Country With Cheap, Fragile Goods
- Southern Africa: SADC Free Trade Area Scraps Tariffs
- Botswana: Competition Policy Crucial for SADC-Ps
- Kenya: Oil From Sudan Next Month
- Zimbabwe: Beef Rakes in Over U.S.$35 Million Annually
- Uganda: Go Slow on Buvuma District, Mukwaya
- Kenya: Export of Raw Cashewnuts Banned
- Kenya: Sugar Import Rules to Be Gazetted
- Nigeria: Country Missing in N50.4 Trillion Global Textile Trade
