Searching for opportunities for Sub-Saharan Africa's renewal in the era ofglobalisation

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries rely heavily on donor assistance and in ternational borrowing. The Official Development Assistance (ODA)/GNP ratio in SSA is expected to rise well into the next century. Increases or decreas es of ODA, which is known to be the main source of SSA's investment, may de pend on the type of global settlement expected to emerge in the post-cold w ar world. SSA has therefore a stake on the type of globalisation which may frame world economic policy and financial aid to it. Neo-liberal globalisat ion has no enthusiasm for massive financial transfers. The incipient global ising ideas which emerged from the Rio Summit in 1992 have suggested to inc rease ODAs in real terms and debt relief to control crushing debt service p ayments. Agenda 21 has created new and additional facilities formally for i ncreasing donor assistance in the form of financial and investment transfer s. The question is whether this new mechanism will make any difference to s tem the SSA decline and can "incentivise" the region's renewal or renaissan ce. This article will focus on how globalisation may be related to increase or decrease of financial transfer to SSA. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.