Press Conference to Launch ‘Economic Report on Africa 2010’

 

As the rest of the world begins to shake off the worst effects of the global economic and financial crisis, a United Nations report launched today argues that Africa should position itself for long-term development by pursuing an employment-intensive strategy prioritizing sustained growth and increased job-creation.

“The recession should serve as a wake-up call for Africa,” Robert Vos, Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said today as he previewed the report at a Headquarters press conference.  He noted that, while economic growth had slowed slightly in Africa during 2009, the crisis offered African countries an opportunity to work towards the structural transformations needed to lay the foundations for sustainable, employment-intensive, high economic growth rates.

Launching Economic Report on Africa 2010 — the flagship annual publication of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) — under the theme “Promoting high-level sustainable growth to reduce unemployment in Africa”, Mr. Voss said the survey tracked the performance of African economies with the aim of stimulating the global policy debate on prospects for the continent.  He cited well-known factors contributing to Africa’s economic slowdown during the global economic and financial crisis of the past 18 months: declining exports and commodity prices; falling remittances; lagging official development assistance (ODA); steep drops in foreign investment and tourism; and lingering droughts in many countries, especially in East Africa.

Noting that African countries had generally been unable to create enough jobs to make a significant dent in poverty statistics or spark sustained development, even during periods of relatively high growth, he said the crisis had exacerbated unemployment over the past year.  And drawing on a case study contained in the report, he said Congo’s economic performance had been only “moderately impacted” by the crisis as demand for its timber had declined and the drop in oil prices had reduced fiscal revenue.  Nevertheless, real gross domestic product (GDP) had grown by 7.1 per cent in 2009 owing to the significant rise in oil output and a moderate increase in non-oil GDP.

That was usually an indicator of parallel employment growth, but was not the case in Congo because much of its economic growth had been in the extractive sector, where there was little potential for job creation, he pointed out.  Indeed, while providing some 70 per cent of Congo’s GDP, the oil sector employed no more than 1 per cent of the labour force, a situation exacerbated by low or ineffective Government spending to create jobs or promote education to improve job skills.

Despite slight country-specific variations, such situations were apparent across the continent, he continued, stressing that, in order to reverse Africa’s “jobless growth” trend, Governments must do more to plant the seeds of better development by adopting strategies to maximize employment growth and ensure access for the vulnerable to productive job opportunities.  Furthermore, most economists saw weaker African economies “rebounding significantly” in 2010, and there was a need to scale up investments in infrastructure and human capital, skills training and diversification of local markets.  However, the recovery could only take hold if comprehensive labour market strategies gained traction, he stressed.

“It will be important to avoid a return to business as usual,” said Mr. Vos in response to a question.  The structural economic transformation needed to create jobs and avoid the problems seen in 2009 meant increasing investment opportunities and moving away from dependence on single exports or relying heavily on outside development assistance.  It also required real steps to address the effects of climate change, which was impacting the agricultural sector, resulting in food insecurity and severe undernourishment, he noted.  The rapid conclusion of the long-stalled Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization negotiations was a way to end Africa’s marginalization in the global marketplace, he added.

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For information media • not an official record