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AbstractWith its infrastructural offer and emphasis on connectivity, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promises to support developing countries aiming to industrialise. The literature on industrialisation has identified a key role for infrastructure, markets and the state. This article looks at the case of Kyrgyzstan, one of the early members of the initiative, to understand the circumstances under which the BRI can facilitate manufacturing growth. Notwithstanding the presence of accessible markets and financial support for infrastructure, Kyrgyzstan has made limited headway in its industrialisation agenda. This can be attributed to the particular political economy of Kyrgyzstan, which predominantly relies on extracting rent from the mining and other sectors and consequently fails to allocate resources towards industrialisation. Though purportedly interested in revitalising the industrial sector, Kyrgyz politicians have primarily focused on extractive industries, hence impeding diversification and industrialisation efforts.

Forests (natural and planted) are a vital resource in East Africa, providing food, fuel and timber for local communities, maintaining the soil and water balance, and absorbing carbon dioxide. Due to increased population pressure and rapidly growing demand for charcoal, East African forests have been shrinking. Towards the end of the 1990s, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation began funding the Tree Biotechnology Programme, a clonal forestry programme aimed at increasing the production of wood for domestic consumption. By focusing on improving tree growers' access to quality planting materials, the programme had a threefold objective: private sector and small grower development, poverty alleviation, and the reduction of negative environmental impact from forestry (contributing to environmental protection). This report analyses and explores the experience of this programme. Its success in Uganda is due to a wide range of factors, both internal and external to the programme. In Uganda, the programme's broad sector view allowed it to thrive, and take advantage of favourable external conditions. This is one reason why Gatsby Africa has since taken a more holistic systems approach to sector transformation. Moving to a direct implementer model, with explicit transformation objectives, has meant that Gatsby Africa has a better picture of what is happening in its programmes, can adapt sooner when challenges arise and can anticipate opportunities for future growth.

AbstractAfrican countries face an economic transformation gap. Given the large and growing Chinese presence on the African continent, a fundamental question is whether Chinese firms contribute to, or hinder, economic transformation in Africa. This article conducts a scoping review of over one hundred sources, examining the pathways through which Chinese firms can affect economic transformation. On balance, the literature points to a positive role of Chinese firms. Africa–China trade leads to mixed results, while Chinese investment and infrastructure construction are found to contribute positively to transformation. Chinese firms are also found to support capacity building, spillovers and innovation in African countries.

AbstractIn many developing countries, the apparel industry is seen as a 'stepping stone' towards industrialisation. Countries rely on foreign investment to enter the garment sector by engaging in simple assembly production and aim to gradually upgrade along the value chain by building their networks and capabilities. By comparing case studies in Africa and Asia, this article shows that foreign investors contribute differently to upgrading and creating linkages. The study reviews the historical experiences of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lesotho and Madagascar to understand the roles played by various types of foreign investors in contributing to upgrading. The model of production of these investors and their embeddedness in the host countries' markets shape their contribution towards upgrading. This has important policy implications, suggesting that government policies aiming to develop the garment sector beyond the assembly stage need to correctly identify and attract the investors that are most likely to be or become 'embedded'. The case studies also highlight the importance of creating a domestic class of entrepreneurs that can actively contribute to the development of the garment industry.

AbstractStructural transformation is among the core questions in development economics, but in recent decades, the discipline has shifted its focus away from production and transformation in favour of analyses on exchange, growth and productivity. Yet, the structural transformation question remains central, and needs to be confronted with the main changes in the global economic and political landscape, such as the emergence of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). With its emphasis on an infrastructure-based connectivity agenda, the BRI opens the space for a paradigm shift in development, and for a renewed emphasis on structural transformation. This article introduces a special issue that explores the role of the BRI in promoting structural transformation in low- and middle-income countries, to understand if and under which conditions the BRI creates pathways that can change the structure of the economies. Through an explicit focus on the role of BRI on transformation in low- and middle-income countries, this special issue examines how domestic institutions regulate and coordinate production diversification, national and international sectoral specificities, and drivers and barriers to technological innovation and trade. In this sense, the special issue sheds light on new conceptualisations and empirical examples of industrial policies.

This is the first report in ODI's Economic Pulse series. It explores China's international economic response to Covid-19 and analyses its international engagements, especially in developing countries, in light of shifts in the global economic and political landscape. Our review of China's economic response has an international focus due to the nature of the macroeconomic data, while project-level data and a policy review drill down into the effects of that response on developing countries.