Politics, bad harvest slows W. Africa growth

DAKAR – The West African Central Bank yesterday downgraded the growth rate of a West African economic grouping by 0,4 per cent to 3,8 per cent due to poor harvests and political difficulties in the region including the ongoing crisis in Ivory Coast.

The world’s top cocoa producer is the main driver of the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union, and the toll of its divisive low-level conflict is being felt across the zone, according to the central bank. Economic activity tapered in the first trimester of 2005 due to reduced agricultural yields, following last year’s invasion of desert locusts that was the worst to hit the region in over a decade.Global hikes in the price of petroleum products have also played a role in keeping growth low, central bank governor Charles Konan Banny said in a statement.At the same time, inflation has sent the prices of staple goods across the zone soaring by at least 3,8 per cent, compared to 0,8 per cent over the same period last year, the statement said.Two of UEMOA’s countries, Mali and Niger, are facing major food shortages that risk translating into chronic malnutrition for hundreds of thousands of people, and hikes on staples have put even basic foodstuffs such as grain beyond the reach of many who survive on less than one US dollar a day.-Nampa-AFPEconomic activity tapered in the first trimester of 2005 due to reduced agricultural yields, following last year’s invasion of desert locusts that was the worst to hit the region in over a decade.Global hikes in the price of petroleum products have also played a role in keeping growth low, central bank governor Charles Konan Banny said in a statement.At the same time, inflation has sent the prices of staple goods across the zone soaring by at least 3,8 per cent, compared to 0,8 per cent over the same period last year, the statement said.Two of UEMOA’s countries, Mali and Niger, are facing major food shortages that risk translating into chronic malnutrition for hundreds of thousands of people, and hikes on staples have put even basic foodstuffs such as grain beyond the reach of many who survive on less than one US dollar a day.-Nampa-AFP