President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has urged African countries to put a decisive end to the export of raw materials, stressing that such practice perpetuates poverty and underdevelopment across the continent.
Citing figures from the Office of the United States Trade Representative and other global financial institutions, Adesina noted that Africa accounts for less than two per cent of global manufacturing output, despite being home to some of the world’s most valuable raw materials.
In a post shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday, Adesina underscored the urgent need for African economies to transition from being exporters of unprocessed commodities to producers of value-added products.
“Africa must end the exports of its raw materials. The export of raw materials is the door to poverty. The export of value-added products is the highway to wealth. And Africa is tired of being poor,” he wrote.
Though rich in natural resources, Africa’s participation in global trade remains marginal, accounting for less than 3 per cent. The AfDB president highlighted the need for structural transformation, noting that industrialisation and value addition were essential to reversing the continent’s economic challenges.
In recent years, momentum has been building behind initiatives aimed at deepening regional integration and stimulating industrial capacity across the continent.
Among them is the African Continental Free Trade Area, which seeks to expand intra-African trade, boost manufacturing output, and promote value-added production in various sectors.
Adesina, a vocal advocate for sustainable development and economic reform, has repeatedly championed policies geared towards agro-industrialisation, infrastructure development, and expanded energy access as key enablers of Africa’s economic renaissance.
Last week, the AfDB president also criticised the uneven global financial architecture, particularly the International Monetary Fund’s distribution of Special Drawing Rights in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He revealed that Africa received just $33 billion—representing only 4.5 per cent of the total $650 billion SDRs issued globally.
Adesina said the allocation model failed to reflect Africa’s heightened financial vulnerability, pointing out that the continent suffered some of the deepest economic wounds from the pandemic while having limited fiscal buffers to mount a comprehensive recovery.
To address this inequity, he disclosed that the AfDB, in partnership with the African Union, had led a coordinated push to rechannel unused SDRs from richer countries to African economies. He added that leveraging the AfDB’s AAA credit rating, a new framework co-developed with the Inter-American Development Bank had been approved by the IMF Board.
The approved framework is expected to enable African countries to access more financial resources for economic recovery, industrial development, and structural transformation.
