Political Correspondent
African governments will need to make calculated decisions to protect their sovereign and strategic interests as global powers compete for influence across the continent, says research firm Oxford Economics.
France’s Africa push reflects the calculations of a power seeking to rebuild commercial and political standing after losing ground in West Africa and the Sahel.
Oxford Economics said African governments face a development landscape in which growth will increasingly depend on public-private partnerships, technology transfer and trade as Western governments reduce aid budgets under domestic fiscal pressure.
The firm cautioned that investment-led engagement would not eliminate geopolitical trade-offs. As China, Russia, Gulf states, Europe and the US compete for strategic influence across the continent, African governments may find they have more options and harder choices in roughly equal measure.
