What Contribution can China Make to Inclusive Growth in SSA?

Abstract

Despite rapid economic growth the numbers living in absolute poverty in Africa have grown. The absence of inclusive growth can be traced to the structure of globalisation, the advance of financialisation and the trajectory of technological progress. A number of disruptive forces in which China has played a major role offer the possibility of moving from this exclusive growth strategy – terms of trade reversal, shifting markets and new paradigms of innovation. By providing cheap consumer and capital goods, new market opportunities and new more appropriate technologies, China has the capacity to help Africa move to a more sustainable growth path. However, this is not an inevitable outcome, and outcomes will also be contextual. The extent to which Africa is able to take advantage of opportunities opened up by China to move to a new more inclusive growth path will largely be determined by political factors, but these, too, are not independent of China’s increasing economic and political footprint, both globally and in its direct relations with Africa