Camdessus on Africa: Africa Is a "Continent on the Move," Says IMF Managing Director

• Pages: 194-195

Page 194

Despite all the tragedies besetting it, Africa is moving forward. Economic growth has resumed in most of the continent, and your countries are reaping the fruits of implementing sound economic policies.

With many of you, we have already started thinking about a new generation of reforms that will enable you to accelerate progress and growth and more quickly win the war against poverty. But now the strength and magnitude of the Asian crisis seem to have called everything into question. The IMF is working to contain this fire and put it out, and to help the countries concerned to emerge stronger from the ordeal.

Africa's Recent Progress

After some two decades of lost opportunities, Africa's economic performance has improved and the outlook has brightened. Real GDP for the region as a whole is growing at an annual rate of 4-5 percent, and per capita incomes are on the rise. African countries- especially those pursuing programs supported by the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank-are increasingly partaking in the economic recovery. Inflation has also come down sharply-with the average rate falling from a peak of close to 36 percent in 1994 to about 10 percent in 1997. Fiscal deficits have been cut by half in the past five years and external current account deficits, after widening slightly in the mid-1990s, were down to 2.5 percent of GDP in 1997.

These improvements do not warrant euphoria, but they should encourage us to look to the future with optimism. We can be confident, because they are attributable not to luck but to better economic and financial policies in Africa-that is, to your own rigorous efforts and the many initiatives to promote good governance, develop human resources, ensure respect for human rights, and democratize political regimes.

Yet despite this progress on so many fronts, Africa's growth performance still lags behind that of many developing countries. Thus, it is essential to build on these gains and to make endemic poverty retreat. How can we do this in such an unpredictable international context? It is here that we must interpret correctly the messages coming to us from Asia. We should read them not as a sign to reject globalization, but rather to reject the mistakes that were made.

Globalization offers access to a larger volume of financial savings, a wider range...