Looking at Joe Biden’s $1.9trn Covid-19 rescue package I desperately want African leaders to request an international development element to the programme

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Top marks to President Biden for hitting the ground running with his economic stimulus plan on day one. It is very impressive and shows he was ready for office long before he was sworn-in

(2) I fully expect the US Congress to pass his economic stimulus bill. Reading through the proposals, it is clear that if you inject $1.9trn into an economy, you will automatically get regeneration. Once this bill is passed, the US will inevitably see economic growth within weeks

(3) What I am yet to see from President Biden, however, is an international development stimulus plan that will revive the global economy. If you ask me, it should be our African presidents pushing for this as they have been the most hard hit by the lockdown. Africa survived by selling primary commodities and at the moment, demand for these is extremely weak

(4) Africa as a continent had a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.6trn pre-lockdown. With the slowdown as a result of the pandemic, I suspect that Africa’s GDP is not more than this $1.9trn

(5) I am still scratching my head to understand how one country can present a one-off stimulus package that matches the entire GDP of a whole continent. Bear in mind there are 331m people in the US compared with Africa’s population of $1.3bn souls

(6) Africa has about the same population as China and India, who have respective head counts of 1.44bn and 1.39bn people respectively. However, they have GDPs of $14.3trn and $2.87trn respectively

(7) It is easy to see that our continent’s biggest problem is that we are not productive enough. There is not enough investment in human capital, we do not process enough of our raw materials locally and our infrastructure remains under-developed. With Joe Biden in office, we have a chance in lifetime to address this matter once and for all

(8) I like the noises I have been hearing from President Biden about racial equality. It is up to the likes of Presidents Buhari, Ramaphosa and El-Sisi to tell him that this should extend to lifting Africa out of poverty. We cannot be equals if your one-off stimulus package adds up to the same amount as our entire GDP. Racial inequality includes economic inequality

(9) President Biden should be asked to put his money where his mouth is by guaranteeing at least $100bn worth of US foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa this year. All he has to do is pass a law guaranteeing any investment undertaken by US industrialists. Their investments will be tax deductible and Washington will underwrite their risks

(10) Presidents Buhari, El-Sisi and Ramaphosa should also be making similar pitches to other leading economies like China, Japan and Germany. If Africa can attract $500bn in FDI as part of the Covid-19 stimulus plan, we will cease to be the footmat of mankind