Africa back on growth path

ADDIS ABABA – Africa’s economic growth rate will surge back to 4,3 percent this after slumping badly last year due to the global slowdown, a top UN official has said.

Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Abdoulie Janneh made the announcement during a speech at a foreign ministers meeting in Addis Ababa ahead of the African Union’s 14 summit.’The forecast in the forthcoming Economic Report for Africa, jointly published by the ECA and African Union Commission, shows that Africa’s GDP is expected to grow at a rate of 4,3 per cent in 2010,’ Janneh said.Africa has many of the world’s fastest expanding economies, but the 2008 growth rate of 4,9 per cent dropped to 1,6 per cent last year, he said.The continent’s 2009 performance was better than that of shrinking Western economies but with population growing at a rate close to three percent, faster than gross domestic product, Africa saw a per capita income decrease.’Last year… socio-economic developments in Africa were overshadowed by the global economic and financial crisis and the prior food and fuel crises,’ Janneh explained.’What is needed are structures that promote production, employment and trade to transform our small and fragmented economies into strong, diversified and resilient entities that can generate employment for their teeming populations.’The 53-member pan-African body started its heads of state summit yesterday. – Nampa-AP

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