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World Bank Calls on G5 Sahel Countries to Diversify Economies, Scale Up Reforms

The World Bank called on the five West African countries to diversify their economies to adapt to climate change. (Reuters)
The World Bank called on the five West African countries to diversify their economies to adapt to climate change. (Reuters)
    Abidjan - Asharq Al-Awsat
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World Bank Calls on G5 Sahel Countries to Diversify Economies, Scale Up Reforms

The World Bank called on the five West African countries to diversify their economies to adapt to climate change. (Reuters)
The World Bank called on the five West African countries to diversify their economies to adapt to climate change. (Reuters)

The World Bank on Monday urged five West African countries to diversify their economies to adapt to climate change, warning they are extremely vulnerable to extreme weather patterns.

A report said Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger -- all in the arid Sahel region -- are among the world’s least developed countries and therefore the most vulnerable to extreme droughts, floods and heatwaves.

According to its Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for the G5 Sahel region, annual GDP could fall by as much as 11.9% in Niger and by 6.8% in Burkina Faso by 2050 under pessimistic climate scenarios.

The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement and the additional estimates in the CCDR show that over $30 billion are needed across the G5 Sahel countries for climate actions.

The report also showed that damage from climate change can be significantly reduced.

“There are significant opportunities for more resilient development in the Sahel,” said Clara de Sousa, World Bank Country Director for Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger.

“This diagnostic provides a roadmap to help countries scale up reforms and investments to diversify their economies in more resilient and inclusive ways.”

Social protection programs and agricultural landscape initiatives to adopt effective resource management practices and increase use of adaptive technologies could be scaled up to mitigate the impact of the food security crisis and help the agriculture sector become more climate resilient in the medium term, the report noted.

It pointed out that the five countries are developing Adaptive Social Protection systems to provide regular cash transfers and services to the poorest and most vulnerable households, allowing them to cope with, and adapt to future climate-related shocks.

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Federal Reserve Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Quarter-point

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
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Federal Reserve Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Quarter-point

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump’s presidential election victory this week.
The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed’s renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank’s 2% target, The Associated Press reported.
Asked at a news conference how Trump's election might affect the Fed's policymaking, Chair Jerome Powell said that "in the near term, the election will have no effects on our (interest rate) decisions.”
But Trump’s election, beyond its economic consequences, has raised the specter of meddling by the White House in the Fed’s policy decisions. Trump has argued that as president, he should have a voice in the central bank’s interest rate decisions. The Fed has long guarded its role as an independent agency able to make difficult decisions about borrowing rates, free from political interference. Yet in his previous term in the White House, Trump publicly attacked Powell after the Fed raised rates to fight inflation, and he may do so again.
Asked whether he would resign if Trump asked him to, Powell, who will have a year left in his second four-year term as Fed chair when Trump takes office, replied simply, “No.”
And Powell said that in his view, Trump could not fire or demote him: It would “not be permitted under the law,” he said.
Thursday’s Fed rate cut reduced its benchmark rate to about 4.6%, down from a four-decade high of 5.3%. The Fed had kept its rate that high for more than a year to fight the worst inflation streak in four decades. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in mid-2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4% in September.
When its latest policy meeting ended Thursday, the Fed issued a statement noting that the "unemployment rate has moved up but remains low,” and while inflation has fallen closer to the 2% target level, it “remains somewhat elevated.”
After their rate cut in September — their first such move in more than four years — the policymakers had projected that they would make further quarter-point cuts in November and December and four more next year. But with the economy now mostly solid and Wall Street anticipating faster growth, larger budget deficits and higher inflation under a Trump presidency, further rate cuts may have become less likely. Rate cuts by the Fed typically lead over time to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
Powell declined to be pinned down Thursday on whether the Fed would proceed with an additional quarter-point rate cut in December or the four rate cuts its policymakers penciled in for 2025.