Friday, November 19, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.

Making headlines:

Africa is likely to see gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6% next year and 6,5% in sub-Saharan Africa, said African Development Bank (AfDB) President Donald Kaberuka on Thursday, adding that "Africa is coming out of the (global financial) crisis stronger" and "developing a strong relationship with emerging markets."
The bank is likely to borrow between $3-billion and $3,5-billion on the international markets in 2011. Speaking on the sidelines of a business forum, Kaberuka said that the bank is able to secure funding below the London interbank offered rate.
The AfBD said earlier this year that it expected growth of 5,2% for next year, but a stronger than expected rebound led by demand for the continent's commodities has confounded economists' expectations. The continent will be back to its average GDP growth trend of 6% reached during the decade before the financial crisis, which slashed growth to 2,9% in 2009.

Poor nations accused donors on Thursday of failing to keep a promise of extra climate aid, which the United Nations (UN) says will be the "golden key" to successful global warming talks in Mexico later this month.
Bruno Sekoli of Lesotho, who will chair the group of least developed countries, or LDCs, at the UN negotiations in Cancun, says that "promises of aid are there", but LDCs want action. By contrast, developed countries say that cash is starting to flow under a pledge made at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 to provide funds approaching $30-billion of "new and additional" aid between 2010 and 2012.
UN climate chief Christiana Figueres says that aid flows are the "golden key" to Cancun, where nations hope to agree on a package of measures including a green fund to manage long-term aid, deals on sharing clean technology and protecting tropical forests.

The World Bank disbursed some $80,6-billion in 2009 and 2010 to soften the blow from the economic crisis, but warns that increased poverty stemming from the downturn will be a major problem in the future.
In a report on member banks' responses to the crisis that began in 2008, the World Bank said that 64-million more people will fall into extreme poverty by the end of this year than would have been the case. The bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1,25 a day, a challenge faced in many developing countries that suffered further setbacks because of the crisis that originated in wealthy countries.
The banks says that "even with rapid economic recovery, some 71-million people will remain in extreme poverty by 2020, who would have escaped it had the crisis not occurred, coupled with unemployment rates that remain high in several countries."

Also making headlines:

African National Congress deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise says that the ruling party's "realignment" of leadership in the South African Parliament, was consistent with its "ongoing endeavour" to strengthen the party's "movement".
The UK government is to launch two new public-private partnership funds to promote the generation of renewable energy, targeting low-carbon energy in Asia and large-scale renewable energy projects in Africa.
South African President Jacob Zuma says that the national anticorruption hotline has been a success, with 235 officials found guilty of misconduct.

And, Guinea's President-elect Alpha Conde plays down ethnic tensions and appeals to rivals to abandon protests and help him rebuild the nation.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.