Short takes -- 2Africa’s debt specter, electrifying Africa, child labor in sub-Saharan Africa, collapse of mineral prices

Published 31 March 2016

The specter of high debt is raising its head again in Africa, analysts say, as sub-Saharan nations that borrowed cheaply on global markets are now squeezed by a commodities crash. On 9 February 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Electrify Africa Act after nearly two years of failed attempts to get the bill through both chambers of Congress. As Sub-Saharan Africa strives to break the shackles of poverty, its population of nearly one billion people is hard at work. The ongoing collapse of mineral prices on the international market, growing debt crisis, and dwindling revenue to finance socio-economic development in African countries has refocused attention on how to optimally use the continent’s vast mineral sector

Debt demon looms again over Africa
The specter of high debt is raising its head again in Africa, analysts say, as sub-Saharan nations that borrowed cheaply on global markets are now squeezed by a commodities crash. The return of debt troubles in Africa has caught some by surprise, they say, twenty years after a global campaign was mounted to offer debt relief to the world’s most impoverished nations.

The U.S. Electrify Africa Act, 2015
On 9 February 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Electrify Africa Act after nearly two years of failed attempts to get the bill through both chambers of Congress. The Act will provide a framework for a major public-private partnership between the United States and sub-Saharan African countries, including Kenya, to improve access to affordable and reliable electricity. The United States will support efforts to promote first-time access to electricity and power services for at least fifty million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s dependence on child labor affects development
As Sub-Saharan Africa strives to break the shackles of poverty, its population of nearly one billion people is hard at work. A 2014 report by the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that one out of five Sub-Saharan children are working under difficult if not squalid conditions. Poverty is the driving force behind child labor, says Alex Soho of the International Labor Organization in South Africa.

Governments make progress to develop African Mineral Governance Framework
The ongoing collapse of mineral prices on the international market, growing debt crisis, and dwindling revenue to finance socio-economic development in African countries has refocused attention on how to optimally use the continent’s vast mineral sector through speedy implementation of the African Mining Vision (AMV). The African Mining Vision seeks to foster a transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development.