Africa needs infrastructure boost

YAOUNDE – Africa must overcome its lack of infrastructure, expand farming and brighten its investment climate in order to tackle poverty and realise its growth potential, Cameroon’s prime minister said on Thursday.

The countries of the world’s poorest continent must work together to win the massive financing needed for infrastructure investments, Ephraim Inoni said at a meeting of African economy and finance ministers. Many African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, had mineral riches and hydroelectric potential that were underexploited because of the lack of basic infrastructure.African leaders say projects to criss-cross the continent with railways and roads would galvanise economic activity.”Any effort to release the continent’s growth potential and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should first address the acute shortage of infrastructure,” Inoni said.The so-called Millennium Development Goals aim to halve Africa’s poverty by 2015 and combat diseases like malaria.The development of agriculture, on which most African’s depended, was key to alleviating poverty, Inoni said.He also stressed the need to improve Africa’s business and regulatory climate to draw more foreign investment, adding Africa must seize the opportunity to unleash its huge economic potential, echoing recent calls made by senior IMF officials.”We must press on with our reforms,” he said in a public speech before the meeting went into a closed-door session.In a visit to Africa earlier this month, the IMF’s new deputy head, John Lipsky, urged its governments to build on good growth this year and capitalise on the chance provided by a benign global economy, debt relief and progress with reforms.The African Union’s Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Maxwell Mkwezalamba, told the meeting in Yaounde on Thursday that Africa’s economy grew by 5,1 per cent in 2005 and was expected to expand by 5,8 per cent in 2006.Inflation had declined from 9,1 per cent in 2004 to 7,9 per cent in 2005 in spite of increases in oil prices, he added.”The improved economic performance is, however, lower than the seven per cent required to reduce poverty and to attain the Millennium Development Goals,” Mkwezalamba added.Inoni urged African governments to react proactively to soaring oil prices by encouraging the use of renewable energies and bio-fuels.He hailed progress in recent years in developing intra-African trade, but said it still remained slow.Africa still suffered widespread hunger and the highest HIV-AIDS prevalence in the world, he said, citing political conflict, underemployment, corruption, limited direct foreign investment and huge external debt as major brakes to growth.Nampa-ReutersMany African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, had mineral riches and hydroelectric potential that were underexploited because of the lack of basic infrastructure.African leaders say projects to criss-cross the continent with railways and roads would galvanise economic activity.”Any effort to release the continent’s growth potential and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should first address the acute shortage of infrastructure,” Inoni said.The so-called Millennium Development Goals aim to halve Africa’s poverty by 2015 and combat diseases like malaria.The development of agriculture, on which most African’s depended, was key to alleviating poverty, Inoni said.He also stressed the need to improve Africa’s business and regulatory climate to draw more foreign investment, adding Africa must seize the opportunity to unleash its huge economic potential, echoing recent calls made by senior IMF officials.”We must press on with our reforms,” he said in a public speech before the meeting went into a closed-door session.In a visit to Africa earlier this month, the IMF’s new deputy head, John Lipsky, urged its governments to build on good growth this year and capitalise on the chance provided by a benign global economy, debt relief and progress with reforms.The African Union’s Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Maxwell Mkwezalamba, told the meeting in Yaounde on Thursday that Africa’s economy grew by 5,1 per cent in 2005 and was expected to expand by 5,8 per cent in 2006.Inflation had declined from 9,1 per cent in 2004 to 7,9 per cent in 2005 in spite of increases in oil prices, he added.”The improved economic performance is, however, lower than the seven per cent required to reduce poverty and to attain the Millennium Development Goals,” Mkwezalamba added.Inoni urged African governments to react proactively to soaring oil prices by encouraging the use of renewable energies and bio-fuels.He hailed progress in recent years in developing intra-African trade, but said it still remained slow.Africa still suffered widespread hunger and the highest HIV-AIDS prevalence in the world, he said, citing political conflict, underemployment, corruption, limited direct foreign investment and huge external debt as major brakes to growth.Nampa-Reuters