World Bank expects faster economic growth for Africa in 2012 despite volatile global economy
The World Bank says economic growth in sub-Sahara Africa remains strong and is poised for a lift-off in 2012 after growing at 4.9% in 2011, just shy of the pre-crisis average of 5%.
Excluding South Africa, which accounts for over a third of the region’s GDP, growth in the rest of the region was 5.9%, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions, indicates a new World Bank report on Africa’s economy.
The report, Africa’s Pulse, according to a World Bank press release April 18, 2012, said over a third of the countries in the region attained growth rates of at least 6%, with another 40% growing between 4 – 6%. Among fast- growing economies in 2011 were resource-rich countries such as Ghana, Mozambique, and Nigeria, as well as other economies such as Rwanda and Ethiopia, all posting growth rates of at least 7% in 2011.
“In view of the turbulence that has beset the global economy in the last five years, many would be right to think that the prospects for Africa are terrible. But as this issue of Africa’s Pulse shows, African economies continue to show resilience and some of the fastest-growing economies in the world are now in Africa. The urgent agenda remains sustaining the macroeconomic reforms while accelerating the structural reforms that will deliver the right quality of growth that creates jobs and raises incomes on the continent,” says Obiageli ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili, World Bank’s Vice President for Africa.
However, the report says that the Eurozone debt crisis and tighter domestic policies in some large developing countries pushed African exports lower in late 2011. It cited metal and mineral exporting nations like Zambia, Niger, and Mozambique as well as cotton exporters – Benin and Burkina Faso as among the hardest hit in the three months ending in November 2011.
Given the recent strengthening of other commodity prices in 2012, the report observed that export values for both agriculture and metal and mineral exporters may already have started expanding.
Touching on tourism, the Africa’s Pulse reports that the weakening global economy in the second half of 2011 affected tourist arrivals to the continent.
“For the year, tourist arrivals in sub-Saharan Africa were up by 6.2%, higher than the global average of 4.4%, but lower than the 9.6% recorded for the region in 2010, when it benefitted from hosting of the World Cup,” said the report.
Tourism arrivals from Europe saw a decline in major destination markets such as Mauritius, it added.
By Ekow Quandzie