Find books now:


Find books now:

Cost of ‘free trade’ to Africa’s poor estimated at 272 billion dollars

-21/06/05

The cost of ‘free trade’ to Africa’s poor has been estimated at 272 billion US dollars.

Africa is a massive 2 billion worse off as a result of ëfreeí trade policies forced on the continent as a condition for receiving aid and debt relief, according to the aid agency Christian Aid.

According to new research from Christian Aid, poor countries in sub Saharan Africa have lost billions of dollars worth of business over the past twenty years after being forced to open their markets to imports.

The amount Africa has lost is equivalent to a sum large enough to wipe out all Africaís debt and enable every child in the world to be sent to school and vaccinated.

The new report, ëThe Economics of Failure: The Real Cost of ëFreeí Tradeí stands on its head the traditional pro-market argument that free trade automatically leads to growth and a way out of poverty.

The report seeks to show instead that trade liberalisation has actually cost developing countries billions of dollars in lost income – money that could have been invested in health and education, used to develop new industrial capacity, or to make agriculture more productive.

“”Whole countries would be much richer today if they had not been forced to open their markets. In the past 20 years trade liberalisation has cost Africa the same amount as it received in aid. The amount that Africa has lost could have wiped out Africaís debt and sent every child in Africa and the rest of the world to school and vaccinated every baby on the continent,” said Dr Melamed.

“If new aid and debt relief comes with strings attached that require countries to liberalise trade, it may well do more harm than good. When they meet at Gleneagles,G8 leaders must agree to stop demanding harmful conditions as the price of aid and debt relief,” she added.

Christian Aid used economic modelling to work out what might have happened had trade not been liberalised. Using data from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and other academic studies it examined what trade liberalisation has meant for 32 countries, most in Africa but some in Asia and Latin America.


Find books now:

Cost of ‘free trade’ to Africa’s poor estimated at 272 billion dollars

-21/06/05

The cost of ‘free trade’ to Africa’s poor has been estimated at 272 billion US dollars.

Africa is a massive 2 billion worse off as a result of ëfree’ trade policies forced on the continent as a condition for receiving aid and debt relief, according to the aid agency Christian Aid.

According to new research from Christian Aid, poor countries in sub Saharan Africa have lost billions of dollars worth of business over the past twenty years after being forced to open their markets to imports.

The amount Africa has lost is equivalent to a sum large enough to wipe out all Africa’s debt and enable every child in the world to be sent to school and vaccinated.

The new report, ëThe Economics of Failure: The Real Cost of ëFree’ Trade’ stands on its head the traditional pro-market argument that free trade automatically leads to growth and a way out of poverty.

The report seeks to show instead that trade liberalisation has actually cost developing countries billions of dollars in lost income – money that could have been invested in health and education, used to develop new industrial capacity, or to make agriculture more productive.

“”Whole countries would be much richer today if they had not been forced to open their markets. In the past 20 years trade liberalisation has cost Africa the same amount as it received in aid. The amount that Africa has lost could have wiped out Africa’s debt and sent every child in Africa and the rest of the world to school and vaccinated every baby on the continent,” said Dr Melamed.

“If new aid and debt relief comes with strings attached that require countries to liberalise trade, it may well do more harm than good. When they meet at Gleneagles,G8 leaders must agree to stop demanding harmful conditions as the price of aid and debt relief,” she added.

Christian Aid used economic modelling to work out what might have happened had trade not been liberalised. Using data from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and other academic studies it examined what trade liberalisation has meant for 32 countries, most in Africa but some in Asia and Latin America.