【英语财经】“中国资产价格调整重创非洲经济” AfDB head Akinwumi Adesina warns of global risks to Africa

Africa needs to make sure it gets “the best deal possible” for its natural resource exports, particularly with its largest trading partner China, to protect itself from global market turbulence, according to the new president of the African Development Bank.

Akinwumi Adesina, who takes over on Tuesday as the head of the AfDB, told the Financial Times in an interview that China’s “market asset price correction” is hitting African economies hard, particularly those with “very high exposure” such as the continent’s top crude oil, iron ore and aluminium producers.

For the past decade, Africa has been home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, some of which will struggle to navigate global market turmoil. “There’s no doubt that most of Africa’s economic growth has been tied to that commodities super cycle” that saw China’s economy grow significantly over the past decade, said Mr Adesina. “China is Africa’s largest trading partner [and] we just have to make sure that we manage the current volatilities and make sure that Africa is getting the best deal possible,” he said.

For now, “because of the terms of trade a number of [African] countries will witness current account deficits and the fact that revenue streams have gone down will mean many will face domestic fiscal deficits,” he said, adding that depreciating currencies could also drive up inflation.

One potential “bright side”, he said, was “the rise of industrial wages in China opening a huge opportunity for Chinese companies to actually move out of China and set up industries in Africa because of low wages”.

非洲开发银行(African Development Bank)新任行长阿金武米?阿德希纳(Akinwumi Adesina)表示，非洲需要确保其自然资源出口斩获“最佳可能的交易”，尤其是与非洲最大贸易伙伴国中国，以保护自己不受全球市场动荡的影响。

阿德希纳周二接任非洲开发银行行长，他在接受英国《金融时报》采访时表示，中国的“市场资产价格调整”正在重创非洲各经济体，特别是那些“（对中国经济）敞口非常高”的企业，例如非洲各大原油、铁矿石和铝生产国。

过去10年，非洲涌现了一些全球增长最快的经济体，其中一些将难以驾驭全球市场动荡。阿德希纳表示，“非洲的大部分经济增长无疑与大宗商品超级周期挂钩”；过去10年里，中国经济的大幅增长推动着这个超级周期。他表示：“中国是非洲最大贸易伙伴，我们必须确保我们应对好当前的波动，确保非洲争取到最佳可能的交易。”

他表示，就眼下而言，“由于贸易条件，很多（非洲）国家将出现经常账户赤字，而财政收入下滑的事实将意味着很多国家将面临国内财政赤字。”他补充称，货币贬值也可能推升通胀。

他表示，一个可能的“亮点”是“由于非洲薪资较低，中国工业薪资的上涨为中国企业走出国门、在非洲建立产业开启了一个巨大机遇。”

译者/梁艳裳