Africa: Sustaining the Momentum
| Author | Ulrich Jacoby |
| Position | IMF African Department |
| Pages | 168-169 |
Page 168
Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing its fourth year of strong growth. Higher oil revenues, strong commodity prices, and increased debt relief are being used to make inroads into poverty. While parts of Africa are plagued by wars and tarnished by corruption, elsewhere improved macroeconomic performance and better policies are helping countries put their economies on a firmer footing.
The challenge is to keep things going. The record shows that it is much easier to start a period of high growth than to maintain the pace: growth surges that last only a few years are quite frequent in Africa, as elsewhere. What is rarer is when these growth periods endure.
Leaders of the 53-member African Union met in Ghana July 1-3 to discuss ways to accelerate regional integration and link the continent more closely to the global economy-steps that are essential for spurring further growth, boosting employment, raising living standards, and reducing poverty and deprivation. An increasing focus will need to be placed on implementing the structural reforms that will help foster vibrant market-based economies.
What is the IMF doing to help African countries take advantage of this opportunity? After all, without faster and more sustained growth, poverty will not see much reduction in the continent. Thus, growth must accelerate if Africa is to edge closer toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The IMF has long helped African countries achieve and maintain macroeconomic stability, improve public financial management systems (which promote good governance), and develop an effective financial sector that helps foster growth spearheaded by the private sector. Although most countries in the region are enjoying strong growth and benign inflation, many are still falling short of meeting any of the MDGs.
Making a permanent dent in poverty and achieving progress toward the MDGs will take not only higher overall donor resources but also the steadfast implementation of growth-critical reforms, the targeted and efficient use of available resources, and improved coordination of macroeconomic policies to increase the absorption of higher aid inflows.
The IMF is trying to help address these challenges. Its Medium-Term Strategy renews the IMF's commitment to helping low-income countries in its core areas of expertise...
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