Hohoe, Jan 18, - Dr Akinwumi
Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has made a compelling
case for accelerating Africa’s industrialisation in order to create jobs,
reduce poverty and promote inclusive economic growth.
Citing data from the Bank’s 2018
African Economic Outlook launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on Wednesday, Dr
Adesina said infrastructure projects were among the most profitable investments
any society can make as they “significantly contribute to, propel, and sustain
a country’s economic growth. Infrastructure, when well managed, provides the
financial resources to do everything else”.
He urged African governments in a
release to the Ghana News Agency, to encourage a shift toward labour-intensive
industries, especially in rural areas where 70 percent of the continent’s
population resided, noting that economic diversification was key to resolving
many of the continent’s difficulties.
“Agriculture must be at the
forefront of Africa’s industrialization,” he said, adding that integrated power
and adequate transport infrastructure would facilitate economic integration,
support agricultural value chain development and economies of scale which drive
industrialisation.
He reminded the audience of
policy-makers and members of the diplomatic corps in Côte d’Ivoire that
economic diversification via industrialisation with tangible investment in
human capital will enable the continent’s rapidly growing youth population to
successfully transition to productive technology-based sectors.
Dr Adesina also highlighted the
relatively unknown win-win situation that Africa’s industrialisation can
generate within the developed world, citing data from the report, which noted
that “increasing the share of manufacturing in GDP in Africa (and other Less
Developing Countries) could boost investment in the G20 by about US $485billion
and household consumption by about US $1.4trillion.”
The Bank President highlighted
various innovative ways in which Africa countries could generate capital for
infrastructure development and what the Bank was doing through its ambitious
High five development agenda to address the issues raised in the report.
He announced that the Bank would
organise the Africa Investment Forum on November 7-8, 2018 in Johannesburg,
South Africa, to mobilise funds for infrastructure development, to bridge an
estimated funding gap of $130-$170billion a year, up from previous estimates of
US $100billion per year.
New infrastructure financing gap
estimates and innovative ways through which African countries can raise funds
for infrastructure development are among the highlights of the 2018 edition of
the report, which was launched at the Bank’s headquarters for the first time in
the publication’s 15-year history.
The Africa Economic Outlook was
first published in 2003 and launched mostly in various African capitals outside
the Bank’s headquarters in May each year.
In his remarks, Célestin Monga,
the Bank’s Chief Economist and Vice-President for Economic Governance and
Knowledge Management, said the African Economic Outlook has become the flagship
report for the African Development Bank, providing data and reference material
on Africa’s development that were of interest to researchers, investors, civil
society organizations, development partners and the media.
This year’s edition focuses on
macroeconomic development and structural changes in Africa, and outlines
economic prospects for 2018.
The report emphasized the need to
develop Africa’s infrastructure, and recommended new strategies and innovative
financing instruments for countries to consider, depending on levels of
development and specific circumstances.
Abebe Shimeles, Acting Director,
Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research, said the Bank will publish
Regional Economic Outlooks for Africa’s five sub-regions.
The self-contained, independent
reports, to be released at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in May 2018, will focus
on priority areas of concern for each sub-region and provide analysis of the
economic and social landscape, among other key issues.
Participants at the launch
session, moderated by the Bank’s Director of Communications and External
Relations, Victor Oladokun, included members of the diplomatic community in
Côte d’Ivoire, representatives of international organisations and multilateral
development banks, civil society and the media.
GNA
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