Kenya president calls on Beijing to its open market to more than commodities
Yes, amigo. Africans have smarten up...
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has called on China to rebalance an increasingly skewed trade relationship between Africa and the rising superpower, arguing that Beijing must do more to tackle a widening trade deficit.
Africa’s trade balance with China has moved decisively into deficit due to a fall in the price of many African commodities, such as oil, copper, iron ore and cocoa. In 2015, the most recent year for which there is reliable data, Africa’s 54 countries recorded a $34bn deficit with China on total trade of $172bn, according to the China-Africa Research Initiative (Cari) at Johns Hopkins University, although commodity prices have strengthened somewhat since then.
Kenya imported $5.9bn worth of Chinese goods but shipped only $99m of goods in return.
Referring to concerns in parts of Africa that China was recreating colonial trading patterns by flooding the continent with manufactured goods, extracting raw materials and gobbling up construction contracts, Mr Kenyatta said that Beijing was “beginning to appreciate that, if their win-win strategy is going to work, it must mean that, just as Africa opens up to China, China must also open up to Africa”.
ft.com |
