AU/ECA offer recipe for sustained growth, job creation in Africa
PANA

 Progress in sustaining high-level and job-creat ing growth in Africa will remain unsatisfactory unless bold country specific growth and employment strategies are adopted and implemented with the support of committed political leaders, according to a paper jointly prepare d by the Africa Union Commission (AUC) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

Besides their guidance, the paper suggests that political leaders must pursue a coordinated regional effort to keep the continentâ?s current growth on track and avoid the disappointing performance of the 1980s and early 1990s.

The challenges facing African countries in the aftermath of the global economic downturn, the AUC and the ECA maintain, â?is not only to restart, accelerate and sustain growth, but also to enhance th e responsiveness of employment to growth.â?

This is part of the views expressed in an issues paper prepared for the Third Jo int Annual Meetings of the African Union (AU) Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance; and the ECA Conference of Minist ers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, due to take place in Lilongwe, Malawi 29-30 March 2010.

A committee of experts will meet in Lilongwe 25-27 March to prepare for the mini sterial session, the ECA said Tuesday, announcing the theme for this yearâ?s meeting as: â~Promoting high-level susta inable growth to reduce unemployment in Africaâ?.

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika, who is current AU Chairperson, will formall y open the ministerial conference.

The paper provides a basis for discussion by the ministers on a new and more eff ective approach to strengthen the growth-employment-poverty reduction nexus, which has been largely overlooked in policy formulation and implementation over the past three decades in most African countries.

Africaâ?s top political and economic institutions observe that high commodity d emand and prices and improved macroeconomic management underpinned the continentâ?s recent growth performance, which was associated wi th price stability, lower internal and external imbalances, predictable exchange rate movements and increased private investment.

In addition, the continent has received substantial external financial resources in the form of new official development aid (ODA), debt relief and private capital flows, including foreign direct investment (FDI) and remitta nces.

But, observed growth differences across countries reflect the importance of mult iple growth factors on the continent as well as the changing structure of African economies.

Whereas agriculture remains the key sector in most countries, its share in GDP h as declined over time, from over 30 percent in 2000 to 22 percent in 2007.

Fuelled by increasing financial sector activity, tourism and the boom in the com munication industry, the services sector has expanded in many countries.

However, although the share of the industrial sector in total GDP remained relat ively unchanged, its composition shifted significantly in favour of mining.

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