Head of African Development Bank (AfDB) has warned that the continued China, US trade wars and the uncertainty over Brexit will impact negatively to Africa’s economy.
Akinwumi Adesina, president of the AfDB said the unending dispute between two world’s largest economies has affected global markets and unnerved investors as it stretches into its second year now.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam during the Southern African Development Community meeting in Tanzania he said that the bank could review its economic growth projection for Africa – of 4 percent in 2019 and 4.1 percent in 2020 – if global external shocks accelerate.
“We normally revise this depending on global external shocks that could slowdown global growth and these issues are increasing by the day,” Adesina said on the sidelines of the meeting.
“You have Brexit, you also have the recent challenges between Pakistan and India that have flared off there, plus you have the trade war between the United States and China. All these things can combine to slow global growth, with implications for African countries.”
Britain under new Prime Minister Boris Johnson however appears to be on course to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 without a transition deal, which economists fear could severely disrupt trade flows.
Johnson, last week told the UK civil servants to prepare to exit the European Union even without a deal. He maintains that his country will do business with the United States. But the US house speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that the house will not allow the deal between the UK and the US should Britain not consider the “Good Friday agreement” between UK and Northern Ireland.
Adesina on his part says African nations need to boost trade with each other and add value to agricultural produce to cushion the impact of external shocks.
He reiterated that a continental free-trade zone launched last month, the African Continental Free Trade Area, could help speed up economic growth and development, but African nations needed to remove non-tariff barriers to boost trade.
