[DEBATE] : 'Africa catching up'

[Mandi Smallhorne]

Oo-er, it sounds like something infectious: "...said the report which was
released near Johannesburg."
Off the top of my head, I don't recall any info indicating that this growth
has 'trickled down'; what is happening to poverty indicators across Africa
in recent years, anybody got facts at hand?
Mandi
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stefan Andreasson" <bstefan at gmail.com>
To: "DEBATE list" <debate at lists.kabissa.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 7:35 PM
Subject: [DEBATE] : 'Africa catching up'


> #####
>
> 'Africa catching up with world'
> Nov 14 2007 06:54 PM
>
> Midrand - Growth rates in sub-Saharan African economies are finally
> catching up with the rest of the world after lagging behind for the
> last three decades, a World Bank report said on Wednesday.
>
> Long periods of decay and stagnation in 1970s, 80s and early 90s have
> now been replaced by steady growth which will help the continent in
> the battle against poverty, said the report which was released near
> Johannesburg.
>
> "Over the past decade, Africa has recorded an average growth rate of
> 5.4% which is at par with the rest of the world," said Obiageli
> Ezekwesili, World Bank vice-president for Africa.
>
> "The ability to support, sustain and in fact diversify the sources of
> these growth indicators would be critical not to Africa's capacity to
> meet (UN poverty targets) but also to becoming an exciting investment
> destination for global capital."
>
> The continent's overall economic performance was helped in large part
> by the rise in revenue from oil exporters such as Equatorial Guinea
> which saw Gross Domestic Product grow by 30.8% between 1996 and 2005,
> while Angola saw a rise of 8.5% during the same period.
>
> John Page, the bank's chief economist for Africa, said the figures
> showed how "for the first time in three decades, they (African
> economies) are growing in tandem with the rest of the world".
>
> While resource-rich countries were benefitting from a rise in global
> prices, countries that were not blessed with big reserves were also
> performing well.
>
> "Leading the way are the oil and mineral exporters, thanks to high
> prices," said Page. "But 18 non-mineral economies, with 36% of
> sub-Saharan people, have also been doing well."
>
> Oil exports grew from 16.7% in 2003 to 21.6 in 2004, to 19.2% in 2005
> but fell to 13.5% last year, according to the report. Non-oil exports
> inched from 4.5% in 2003 to 7.1% last year.
>
> The World Bank report comes a week after a report by its sister
> institution, the International Monetary Fund, said that sub-Saharan
> Africa was enjoying its strongest economic growth and its lowest
> inflation in more than three decades.
>
> - AFP
>
> #####
>
>