No Accounting For Gaffes: Biden Mistakenly Vows $350 Billion for Africa's Digital Economy

Washington, DC has been hosting the second US-Africa leaders summit from 13-15 December, which came eight years after the first such event took place under the administration of former US president Barack Obama.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden, speaking at the US-Africa Business Forum (part of the second US-Africa leaders summit), announced a new initiative for Africa aimed at helping people across the continent "participate in the digital economy."

Named "the Digital Transformation with Africa," the initiative, according to Biden's speech, would be worth $350 billion and "includes partnerships like a new collaboration between Microsoft and Viasat to bring in Internet access to 5 million Africans."

Soon after the event, however, the White House published the official transcript of the president's speech, where $350 billion transformed into $350 million, with the sum announced by Biden being marked with strikethrough marking, meaning to fix what was apparently the president's mistake.

The US-Africa leaders summit takes place in Washington, DC from 13-15 December, with some 50 delegations from African countries and the African Union participating in the event.

The first summit was held in August 2014, during former president Barack Obama's tenure.