Business
Africa set to grow at 7 percent per annum by 2015
An Economic Report on Africa launched in June in Zambia, by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU) reported that Africa was the second fastest growing continent economically in the world after Asia.
The report said Africa’s potential required even more investment in human capital and technology, physical infrastructure, agriculture and regional economic integration, among others.
However, the continent’s economic growth also faced risks from political crises with the potential to spill over to neighboring states, thus curbing overall growth, Donald Kaberuka, the president of African Development Bank (AfDB) said.
Africa’s economy was affected by the Arab uprisings last year, especially in Egypt, leading to a fall in the continent’s growth from 5 percent in 2010 to 3.4 percent, in 2011, said Kaberuka.
He said Africa was struggling to enhance its appeal as a business market for the whole world, to have its member states be like other established economies globally, he told delegates, among them retired Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.
“We need to create wealth and protect that wealth from the greed of ourselves. There are investors out there willing to come down to this continent, but we have to make our continent ready for them,” he said.
