development 41
The G20 is only five years old , but in representing five continents and a changing world , it has fast assumed a global role , and that means it is expected to speak on behalf of the rest of the world , or what we might call the ‘ G200 ’. With power comes the responsibility of leadership and trusteeship .
The G20 ’ s member countries account for 80 % of the world ’ s trade and its combined domestic product : it follows that the world ’ s remaining 180 countries ( home to a third of global population ) do just 20 % of its business . Far from focusing solely on its own interest , the G20 ’ s obligation is just as much to those who do not sit at its table . Its most notable absentee is Africa , with just one African country - South Africa - among its number . The continent of 54 countries and one billion people is all but overlooked .
This , when the story of Africa since the Millennium is one of extraordinary growth . A continent-wide GDP of $ 600 billion in 2000 had reached $ 2.2 trillion in 2012 : a tripling in size on the surface , and a doubling in reality , given inflation . Seven of the world ’ s ten fastest-growing economies are in Africa ( the DRC , Ethiopia , Ghana , Mozambique , Nigeria , Tanzania and Zambia ), and it will achieve 6.6 % growth in 2013 .
The trajectory continues upward . A population growing by 2.2 % a year ( compare 0.9 % in Asia ) promises a huge youth dividend , if the jobs and the skills are there in equal supply . Africa ’ s increasing rates of urbanisation ( at 40 % now , to be 70 % by 2050 ) offer similar opportunity if properly managed . Africa ’ s middle class is set to double to 600 million by 2030 . Africa boasts two-thirds of the world ’ s arable land , and - with advances in science and genetics - it can drastically improve its food supply . It also boasts significant amounts of the world ’ s minerals and fossil fuels , and its wealth of natural resources can be further explored , as geological mapping continues to make new findings . Information technology can continue to leapfrog Africa forward : it now has more mobile phones than North America . That said , we know that huge challenges remain : pockets of fragility , a lack of basic infrastructure , a disjointed regional economy , and the quest for truly shared and truly sustainable growth .
The G20 ought to listen to its missing continent and to partner with it , and to see the continent for what it is - a global dynamo of opportunity , the world ’ s new growth pole , and the final development and investment frontier . Africa is not a burden - as it was seen to be only 10 years ago - but increasingly it is a source of solutions for a world that is languishing .
The G20 is now well aware that Africa is open for business . Organisations like the African Development Bank and its partners are helping to lay many of the foundations - in building the infrastructure of road , rail , water and electricity , in strengthening government institutions and fighting corruption , in supporting education and skills .
Development aid is a small but significant part of the way ahead , especially if it is the precursor to the foreign and domestic private sector money that can , in turn , make the private sector the engine of growth that will propel Africa further forward .
Fourteen members of the G20 support the Africa Development Fund which completes its latest replenishment in September 2013 , and which needs to remain strong to finish its task of securing the momentum of the many while still focusing on the fragility of the few .
But every member of the G20 can contribute to the newly launched Africa50Fund , a facility set up to find and finance bankable infrastructure projects supported by African central bank reserves , pension funds , insurance companies , as well as international public and private sector funding . The Bank can leverage $ 3 for every public sector dollar it receives , and $ 6 for every private sector dollar - this is ‘ smart aid ’ at work through leveraging and mobilising finance , as Africa takes hold of its own development destiny and makes a little go a long way .
The G20 also has a role to play in taking up the G8 ’ s 2013 agenda of Trade , Tax , and Transparency .
On trade , Africa has waited 10 years for the tariff - and barrier-free global deal in the Doha Round which will allow all goods to cross all borders , everywhere . It is still waiting , and realistically , the chances of reaching a deal remain remote . This is what makes it all the more urgent to unlock Africa ’ s own internal markets , thereby deepening intra-regional trade on this continent . The G8 and the G20 can get behind this .
On tax , Africa and the G8 converge on the need for adequate information which is adequately shared , especially by multinational companies which evade taxes . Far too much African wealth lies in G8 , G20 and other tax havens , and we welcome the moves to bring it home . The G8 and the G20 must work alongside Africans ’ and others ’ continuing efforts to collect tax and share information .
On transparency , Africa and the G8 share an agenda of empowering people to hold governments and companies to account , above all in the extractive industries on which so much of the economic growth on the continent has been founded . Practically , that means a shared commitment towards common global reporting standards on payments and revenues . The African Development Bank already supports twelve of its member countries in complying with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative , while its Africa Legal Support Facility helps countries negotiate of ten muddy waters in drawing up extraction contracts with multinational companies .
It is through Trade that this continuing African growth story will be told , and it is Tax and Transparency which are some of the foundations on which shared and sustainable growth will be built . The G20 should work with Africa , the continent which offers it hope and opportunity . Africa can give the world the economic pulse it needs .
This piece is extracted from a previous and longer article on the G20 by Dr Kaberuka .