◆Name: Kazue DEMACHI

◆Date: April 13, 2018

◆Published in Proceedings of the ASC ― TUFS 'Kickoff' Symposium Frontiers of African Studies

◆Title: Periphery or Battlefront: Africa in the International Economy

◆Abstruct:
The resource-rich African economies experienced rapid growth in the 2000s, largely due to high international resource prices and foreign direct investment inflows. The boom was mainly natural resource-led and short-lived, similar to the experiences of African countries in the past. Furthermore, for most of the countries, the recent boom did not result in significant industrial growth. However, the high resource prices and discovery of new natural resource reserves during the boom in some of the countries opened a way to the international capital market through the issuance of Eurobonds. The history of sovereign defaults suggests that the debt financing of government expenditures, especially private and foreign-owned debt, requires serious care. It must be asked whether this is a delightful acceptance of Africa into the international financial market, or a premature securitisation of African development.

◆Key Words: sovereign debt, resource curse, Africa, Eurobond