PRES: Africa is the least integrated region in the global economy, yet it is soon to become the worst hit. Falling commodity prices and the drying up of foreign aid is affecting Africa's progress towards eliminating poverty. To reverse this trend, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the rich nations to honor their 2005 pledges which remain 20 billion dollars below target. Jocelyne Sambira reports for UN Radio.
KI-MOON: Tens of millions of people have been pushed into joblessness and greater vulnerability. Some countries stand to miss their poverty reduction target. I urge the G8 to set out, country by country, how donors will scale up aid to Africa over the next year.
NARRATOR: At the start of the crisis, many financial experts speculated that Africa and other developing nations would not be affected because of the small role Africa played in the global economy. They were wrong observes, Asha Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.
MIGIRO: The impact can be seen in many ways: export volumes, commodity prices, remittances, tourism, foreign direct investments and foreign aid are all under pressure.
NARRATOR: Many western countries are withdrawing their capital and restricting foreign imports, hitting African economies hard according to Bamanga Tukur, Chairman of the African Programme for Development, NEPAD.
TUKUR: Falling consumer demand in developed countries directly reduces demands for consumer products in the international markets, with clear implications for operation of industrialism in Africa.
NARRATOR: Some middle income African countries have responded at the regional and national levels with stimulus packages while others have had to take drastic measures to survive the impact. The UN Special Advisor for Africa, Sheik Sidi Diarra says this has dire consequences for the Least Developed Countries or LDC.
DIARRA: The resulting adjustment made entire drastic cuts in government spending on infrastructure, health and education, water and sanitation thereby further compounding the prevalence of poverty. Furthermore, there are fears that Africa and LDCs could be further affected through reduction of official development assistance, the cuts in ODA threatens to derail their development prospects.
NARRATOR: To rectify the shortcomings of the ODA or Official Development Assistance to developing countries, Elisabeth Tankeu, African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry believes the world must change the way it does business with Africa.
TANKEU: Africa needs to add value to their resources and to bring in the market manufactured products to be provider of raw materials and sustain growth in other regions of the world.
NARRATOR: Elisabeth Tankeu, AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry. I am Jocelyne Sambira for UN Radio.
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