The International Monetary Fund, IMF’s recent World Economic Outlook forecasts that Sub-Saharan Africa will achieve 6.6 per cent economic growth this year, compared with only 1.3 per cent for advanced economies. on the back of the commodities boom.
According to the Imf, sub-saharan Africa is enjoying the best period of sustained growth since independence. About 17 non oil-producing countries, representing about 35 per cent of Africa’s population, have grown at about five per cent on average for the past 10 years, as a result of better macroeconomic policies, rising investment and greater private-sector activity.
Much of Africa’s new found confidence is derived from skyrocketing Asian trade and investment in the continent. Net private capital flows reached record lecels in 2007, led by strong foreign direct investment, while exports from Africa to Asia have tripled in the past five years. making Asia Africa’s third-largest trading partner after European Union United States.
Continued demand from Asia for Africa’s raw materials, as well as robust internal demand dynamics, should strenthen the region’s resilience to a slowdown in the advanced economics.
Growth is supported by robust expansion in the region’s non oil-exporting countries, where domestic demeand and investment have responded to improved policies and structural reforms to the extent that manufactured export volumes now represent a much larger share of regional GDP than commodity exports.
Leave Your Comments