Does aid for trade diversify sub-Saharan Africa’s exports at the intensive and extensive margins?

This article applies the flexible estimation approach to estimate an augmented gravity trade model to investigate the link between aid for trade (AfT) and export diversification along the intensive and extensive margins in 42 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period 1995 to 2019. The findings suggest that total AfT is conducive to export diversification along both margins. When analysed by the AfT category, the results reveal that AfT for trade facilitation is more effective in the short run in boosting exports at the extensive margin while AfT for productive capacity building has a bigger impact along both export margins in the longer term. AfT for economic infrastructure seems to promote exports only at the intensive margin. A key policy implication for the donor community is that providing new and additional resources to trade facilitation in African countries could deliver the highest immediate returns in terms of aid effectiveness

Live and Let Live: Africa’s Response Options to China’s BRI

Kodzi offers a timely perspective on the ongoing debate about how China’s BRI might deliver tangible benefits to African partners. The impact of Chinese engagement on local businesses in different regions is explored both broadly, and in a specific African country context. Using the resource dependence theory and the supply chain practice view, the chapter focuses on technology- and knowledge-enhancing industry linkages to conceptualize a pragmatic response by African industry sectors to the competitive pressures associated with Chinese business engagement. By adopting a response view, this chapter proposes credible options for African countries to increase the strategic value of their contribution in BRI exchanges - rather than being casualties of power asymmetry

At Africa's Expense? Disaggregating the Social Impact of Chinese Mining Operations

Qualitative studies and media reports suggest that the presence of Chinese oil or mining companies generates resentments among local extractive communities due to low wages, poor working conditions, environmental degradation, the employment of foreign labour, and perceived racial discrimination. At the same time, Chinese investment in the extractive sector appears to enhance local infrastructure. So far, these claims have not been empirically tested in a systematic way. Relying on novel data on the control-rights regimes of diamond, gold, and copper mines and geo-referenced information from Afrobarometer surveys, this paper examines whether Chinese-controlled mining promotes anti-Chinese sentiments among the local populations of sub-Saharan African countries. In addition, we test the effect of mining contractors' nationality on socio-economic indicators such as local employment rates and infrastructure levels. Our logistic regression analysis for the period 1997-2014 reveals that the effect of Chinese mining companies on African local development is ambiguous: while proximity to Chinese-operated mines is associated with anti-Chinese sentiments and unemployment, populations living close to Chinese mining areas enjoy better infrastructure, such as paved roads or piped water. Multilevel mixed-effects estimations using district-level data from the Demographic Health Survey for 20 sub-Saharan countries corroborate these findings

Sino-African Relations: Some Solutions and Strategies to the Policy Syndromes

We survey about 110 recently published studies on Sino-African relations; put some structure on the documented issues before suggesting some solutions and strategies to the identified policy syndromes. The documented issues classified into eight main strands include, China: targeting nations with abundant natural resources; focusing on countries with bad governance; not hiring local workers; outbidding other countries by flouting environmental and social standards; importing workers that do not integrate into domestic society and living in extremely simple conditions; exhibiting low linkages between her operations and local businesses; exporting low quality products to Africa; and the emergence of China hindering Africa’s development