U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is visiting Senegal with a message about a mutually beneficial future of U.S.-Africa relations. Yellen came to talk about making global banks fairer to developing countries' interests.
“Africa continues to lead as the youngest continent in the world. Here in Senegal, the median age is 19 years. 1.7 million Africans now enter the job market every month,” Yellen said. “And by 2035, the number of Sub-Saharan Africans reaching working age will exceed that of the rest of the world combined.
”The young entrepreneurs she met with Friday owned businesses that spanned sectors, including food processing, baby food production, cosmetics, digital marketing and sanitation, among others. She talked about how the U.S. Development Finance Corp. has committed more than $11 billion across Africa and how the Millennium Challenge Corp., a U.S. foreign assistance agency, is working in 14 African countries with more than $3 billion in active programs, with more in the pipeline.“We intend to invest over $350 million to expand affordable internet access and boost digital skills and entrepreneurship,” she said. Yellen also warned about the risks of exploitation of this growth — pointing at China’s massive investments in African nations, which critics have said contain unfair terms and leave nations saddled with high amounts of debt. “Countries need to be wary of shiny deals that may be opaque and ultimately fail to benefit the people they were purportedly designed to help in the first place,” she said., its biggest creditor. Zambia is renegotiating the nearly $6 billion debt, and Yellen has been critical of China’s failure to make progress on negotiations.“The international community, including China, needs to provide meaningful debt relief to help countries regain their footing,” she said. “Timely debt relief is in the interests of both debtors and creditors.”, wading into politically murky territory in Africa, where some heads of state have not condemned the invasion due to relations they have with Russia. “Russia’s barbaric aggression against its neighbor is particularly being felt by Africa and its people.” Yellen said Friday. “Russia’s war and weaponization of food has exacerbatedand caused untold suffering. And the global economic headwinds caused by the actions of a single man — President Putin — is creating an unnecessary drag on Africa’s economy.” Yellen’s meetings on Friday included a roundtable with Senegal’s Minister of Economy Oulimata Sarr and talks with young female business owners. She will end her day at a dinner at President Macky Sall’s residence.
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