realistic or deluded? akinwumi adesina, welcome to hardtalk. it s good to see you, stephen. it s great to have you here. you need the world to believe in a bright african future. how is that going right now? it s going pretty well. if you take a look at the african economic outlook we had from the african development bank, the gdp growth rate, gdp growth rates last year was 3.1%. this year, it s 3.7%. and next year, it s going to be 4.3%. now, why that is important is that that is well above the global average. you still have ten out of the 20 fastest growing economies in the world being in africa. yeah, it s not quite as good as it sounds because you have fast rising populations across africa. yes, but when you have a lot of global shocks like we have, increasing real interest rates, and you have also a lot of geopolitical risks, you have a lot of inflation all around the world, africa still has its head above the water. yeah, i agree with you that in terms of the population
and the $15 minimum wage that the house voted to include in the covid relief bill. but even with democrats in control, the possibility of any of this becoming law is nowhere near guaranteed. and without a change to the filibuster, much of this progressive to-do list will die. joining me now is senate majority leader chuck schumer of the great state of new york. leader schumer, thank you very much for coming to the sunday show. good to be with you, jonathan. the old days back in gotham. so, listen, you were able to get the senate to pass the covid relief package, and as a result it became law. how do you hold your razor-thin majority? how did you hold it in order for all of these progressive to-do list items to get through passage? well, first, it s such a major piece of legislation. it s the most significant change for middle-class people, for poor people, people trying to get into the middle class in decades in a very long time. and it has amazing things in it. the c
Storm surge warning here in gulfport, because of three to five feet of storm surge expected. The mobile bay has to watch out. Flash flooding with 6 to 12 inches of rain possible. Dont forget, this thing moves all the way through the end of the week, well be talking about whats left of gordon in the middle of the country. David . All right, we know youll be tracking it into the night and first thing in the morning on gma. Ginger, thank you. And as ginger just reported, gordon is expected to slam ashore right there along the mississippi coast, where schools, businesses, resort casinos have all been shut down tonight, and families are racing to protect their homes from rising water and, of course, dangerous flooding. Abcs Victor Oquendo is there tonight. Reporter tonight, the ominous first bands of Rain Slamming into the gulf. Gordon now closing in. Winds of 70 miles per hour, as much as a foot of rain threatening millions in the hours ahead. States of emergency now stretching from louisi
voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. of all the world s continents, africa is the one likely to see the greatest transformation in the course of this century. it will likely be home to almost 40% of all humanity by 2100. if, by then, africans have benefited from sustainable development, their global economic power will be enormous. if they haven t, then they could be facing cataclysmic levels of economic and environmental breakdown. my guest is the president of the african development bank, akinwumi adesina, sometimes dubbed africa s optimist in chief . is his positivity realistic or deluded? akinwumi adesina, welcome to hardtalk. it s good to see you, stephen. it s great to have you here. you need the world to believe in a bright african future. how is that going right now? it s going pretty well. if you take a look at the african economic out