15 °c
London
Monday, April 19, 2021
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAsia FurtherArabia FurtherBrazil FurtherRussia
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
No Result
View All Result
Home Africa

Opinion: Africa growth prospects are very promising

FurtherAfrica by FurtherAfrica
January 18, 2017
in Africa, Commodities, Development, Economy, Industry and Commerce, Infrastructure, Trade
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share via QRWhatsappShare on FacebookShare on TwitterLinkedInPinteresteMail

Growth accelerations are pretty commonplace among developing countries. Economist Ricardo Haussman and his colleagues identified 83 growth accelerations of eight consecutive years at two per cent higher than the five-yearly average between the mid-1950s and early 2000s.

But most growth accelerations, especially those in Africa, were shortlived. They did not form the foundation of a long-term step-change to a more diversified growth path.

The risk following the recently ended booms is that, due to insufficient planning and excessive optimism, the windfalls of growth accelerations were wasted.

Since the early 1990s, many African countries have been on a trajectory of higher growth. To the surprise of many observers, the global financial crisis in 2007-2009 did not spell the end of Africa’s growth surge, though the rate of growth moderated.

More recently, African growth has slowed further. At around four per cent in GDP terms it is considerably lower than the six per cent plus for emerging Asia.

Yet growth remains stronger than in the “lost decades” between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s. And Africa’s developmental performance has improved considerably since the early 1990s.

It is evident that African poverty and infant mortality, while still lagging, have improved significantly. There have been similar improvements in education access and infrastructure.

While these have themselves contributed to growth, the current relatively low growth rate inhibits the pace of the improvement in the lives of people.

To get a real sense of why growth has slowed, we first need to ask why the period since the mid-1990s was so much better than the previous two decades.

Investments

The commodity super-cycle, centred on China’s huge public and private investments, was the standout economic factor due to the demand for African products. Later China’s capital surplus allowed it to offer huge credits for infrastructure investments.

But indicators show that growth and development improvements began in Africa before the commodity super-cycle, other factors were also at play.

Clearly important was the completion of Africa’s liberation – particularly the democratic transitions in southern Africa. The South Africa factor is a subset of the positive impact of the end of the Cold War.

This allowed greater domestic accountability and improved governance in many African countries. The improvements in governance in turn created an environment that frequently encouraged direct and indirect investment.

The second major economic policy risk is that growth is tempered with high levels of inequality. High inequality reduces the impact of growth on poverty, and growing inequality is slow to reverse.

If these inequality levels cannot be reduced, the sustainability of growth in the region will be compromised. The risks have grown in recent years.

But the developmental improvements of the past two decades may well have generated a sufficient legacy to enable many African countries to move to a stronger footing.

By ALAN HIRSCH, professor and director of the Graduate School of Development Policy, University of Cape Town, for Business Daily

Related

Tags: africaAngoladevelopmentEconomyKenyaMalawiMozambiqueSouth AfricaTanzaniaZambiazimbabwe
ScanSendShare320Tweet200Share56Pin72Send
Previous Post

New contracts to prospect for hydrocarbons in Mozambique signed by June

Next Post

Tanzania farmers’ soft loan to boost agriculture production

FurtherAfrica

FurtherAfrica

Founded in 2015 FurtherAfrica is an online platform centralising news and content focusing on the development and growth story of the African continent.

Related Posts

Africa Oil & Power transforms into Energy Capital & Power
Energy

Africa Oil & Power transforms into Energy Capital & Power

by FurtherAfrica
April 19, 2021
SADC technical commission at work in Mozambique
Mozambique

SADC technical commission at work in Mozambique

by Club of Mozambique
April 19, 2021
Currency

Zimbabwe considering bank fines, suspensions over currency gouging

by Staff
April 19, 2021
gas processing plant Angola
Angola

Angola to launch oil and gas licensing round on April 30

by Duarte Marques da Cruz
April 19, 2021
Where To Invest In Africa 2020 – RMB Report
Economy

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth set to recover in 2021 – IMF

by FurtherAfrica
April 19, 2021
Next Post

Tanzania farmers' soft loan to boost agriculture production

Mozambican Government must spend more on extractive industry transarency

Angolan official wants professionalism in agriculture

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2021 AFSIC
2022 Indaba Mining

FurtherAfrica Partners

The Exchange Club of Mozambique Taarifa Rwanda
CrudeMix Africa TechGist Africa Farmers Review Africa
Botswana unplugged Financial Insights Zambia Africa Oil & Power
Harambee Africa Novafrica  

Subscribe to FurtherAfrica

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new articles on your email.

Join 73,051 other subscribers.

FurtherAfrica

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

FurtherAfrica is a FurtherMarkets Limited platform

  • Countries
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • OpenTalk
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Weekend
  • About

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?