Business
Africa now in a position to add to global growth
Africa, with its improved economies, can contribute to global growth for the first time in history, African finance ministers said on Saturday in Washington.
“Africa is the continent that will allow us to overcome the slowdown in growth” in the rest of the world, said Cameroon’s finance minister, Alamine Ousmane Mey, at a news conference during the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank spring meetings.
The continent, home to nearly a billion people, has significant natural resources, a young population and a rapidly developing middle class. “So many of the pillars of global growth,” Mey said.
“Africa is a different place,” said Nigeria Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “For the first time, we are able to contribute to the global growth.”
Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to have 5.6 percent growth in 2013, according to IMF data published on Tuesday.
Eighteen of the countries on the African continent are expected to have at least 6.0 percent growth, with only two in recession, Equatorial Guinea and Swaziland.
South Africa, the continent’s leading economy, was forecast at a more moderate 2.8 percent pace.
