africa

Yale Center for the Study of Globalization
and food industries, the dissemination of standards, and the possibility to move up
the value chains in the agro-food sector. Here again, joining agro-food global value
chains is no longer only about capacities in the agricultural sector, but also about
providing efficient ancillary services, including transport and logistics.
Natural resources remain an important asset for Africa, although governance issues
and macroeconomic challenges have often turned hopes into disappointment. From
an economic development perspective, the question has become how to maximize
the positive spillover effects of extractive industries, including through promoting local
sourcing of the goods and services needed for the operation of these industries.
Services show some potential, but this is often denigrated because most of the service
sector in African countries is informal and associated with low-skill and poorly
remunerated jobs. At the other end of the spectrum, however, services could provide
more highly skilled jobs for young graduates, as well as for women whose jobs are
threatened by the globalization of industrial production (e.g. in the textile industry).
With the bundling of tasks that is the new trend in global production, services also
represent a promising path for development in Africa, requiring less infrastructure
than most industrial activities.
This paper reviews the recent changes that have affected the global economy as they
create opportunities and risks for Africa’s development. It then suggests a “double
leap”—in technology and value added—to best position Africa on the development
path offered by the new global economy.
16.2 Changes affecting the world economy and Africa
The international segmentation of production is not a new phenomenon. However, it
has acquired a fully new dimension and importance in recent years. Initially regional
(e.g., with auto parts made in Mexico, Eastern Europe, or Spain for car manufacturers
in the US, Germany, and France, respectively), the phenomenon has become
truly global as the result of technological progress and reduced costs of transport
and telecommunications. The increasing importance of services in original manufacturers’
output has led to a further delocalization of production, including of some
services inputs in the value chain that once could not be traded across borders.
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