Germany\u2019s development minister unveiled on Wednesday a potential \u201cMarshall Plan\u201d for Africa, which could signal a switch from handing out development aid to strategically promoting private businesses on the continent if approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a 33-page proposal, German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd M\u00fcller calls for a noted change in how international development aid is used, proposing the money be used as a \u201ccatalyst to attract additional private investments\u201d and also seeking greater involvement by the private sector, especially private financing, according to Germany\u2019s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW). M\u00fcller\u2019s paper also outlines a need for \u201cequal cooperation\u201d between Africa and the West, creating better market access for African exports, targeting tax evasion by multinational companies, and ending illicit financial flows from Africa, DW reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The details of a Marshall Plan for Africa \u2014 the idea of which was brought up by M\u00fcller in August \u2014 have been long-awaited by analysts and investors on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe must get away from all these small-scale projects, away from development policy of previous decades, and strike out in a new direction,\u201d M\u00fcller is quoted as saying by DW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigerian economist Tony O. Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, an African investment company, and a columnist for Time Magazine<\/em>, applauds The Marshall Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDespite good intentions, the traditional approach to international aid has not delivered the results hoped for,\u201d Elumelu said in his column. Germany\u2019s Marshall Plan for Africa, however, \u201ccould ease Europe\u2019s current migration-borne burdens. It could also mark an end to the paternal and, at times, patronizing approach the developed world has taken towards Africans, by making them partners in the cause for change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n M\u00fcller\u2019s plan, however, is not without critics, and is yet to be endorsed by other German ministers. According to DW, only 0.25 percent of German companies are present in Africa, and bureaucracy, instability and corruption are cited by leaders as obstacles for private investors looking to Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Managing Director of Afrika Verein Christoph Kannengiesser, who leads the association of German companies with business ties to Africa, said the proposal has merits. But, according to DW, he added that \u201cunfortunately the Marshall plan remains unspecific on how the concrete measures and instruments will look like. The business community is waiting for concrete instruments to be developed that we can use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original Marshall Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The original Marshall Plan, created by the United States to boost Europe\u2019s economy after the destruction of World War II, is considered to have been highly successful. The economic aid resulted in industrial production growth of 35 percent, and increased trade between the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A similar plan for Africa presents challenging differences, starting with the sheer size of Africa. The original Marshall Plan helped 17 economies in Western Europe for only three years. Still, the plan cost about $13 billion (over $100 billion in today\u2019s dollars). Africa is a continent of 54 countries with a population of more than 1.2 billion people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The big question for Dr. Robert Kappel, a senior research fellow for African Affairs at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs, is funding, and getting coordination within Germany and abroad to carry out the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe big question is how to get the necessary funds together,\u201d he said to DW. \u201cIt\u2019s necessary to talk about the funds needed, but that cannot be the duty of the development ministry alone.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Germany\u2019s development minister unveiled on Wednesday a potential \u201cMarshall Plan\u201d for Africa, which could signal a switch from handing out development aid to strategically promoting private businesses on the continent if approved. In a 33-page proposal, German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd M\u00fcller calls for a noted change in how international development aid […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":229871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229681,"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229680\/revisions\/229681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/germanyafrica.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}