Challenge now to accelerate African growth

• Pages: 325-327

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If Africa can seize current opportunities and sharply increase growth, it can start making real inroads into reducing poverty, says John Lipsky on his first visit to Africa since taking over as the IMF's First Deputy Managing Director. He visited Mali, where he voiced support for fairer access to global markets for African farmers, and South Africa, where he spoke about the need to develop the continent's financial sectors to support stronger growth.

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Challenge now is to step up African growth, says Lipsky

Africa needs to accelerate its current period of strong growth so that it can start making real inroads into reducing poverty, said John Lipsky, on his first visit to Africa since taking over as the IMF's First Deputy Managing Director in September. The IMF projects real GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa to slow to 4.8 percent in 2006 from 5.6 percent in 2005, but to pick up to almost 6.0 percent the following year-its strongest performance in decades.

"I believe this is a moment of great opportunity for Africa, where many countries have taken advantage of solid global economic growth and of debt relief to successfully implement reforms," Lipsky said at the end of his visit to Mali. "These reforms, in turn, are improving economic performance. The goal is to create a virtuous circle of reform and faster growth, paving the way for sustained poverty reduction."

In an address on November 10 to ministers of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, meeting in Mali's capital,Bamako, Lipsky said average inflation in the region was the lowest in a quarter century, and growth in the past two years has been the highest in a decade. "I do not mean to downplay the enormous problems still to be dealt with, but this is a significant achievement. It speaks volumes about the efforts governments, the private sector, and civil society organizations are making in so many African countries," Lipsky said. "The real challenge now is to accelerate and sustain this growth. That is the only way we can make substantial progress toward reducing poverty."

In a three-day visit, he had talks with President Amadou Toumani Touré, Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi Maïga, President of the National Assembly Ibrahim Boubacar Kéïta, and Minister of Economy and Finance Abou-Bakar Traoré.

During a trip to a cotton plant...