Business
Africa set to grow at 7 percent per annum by 2015
(Reuters) – Africa’s growth could rise to 7 percent by the year 2015 – the growth driven by a rush of investors attracted by its drive to improve its infrastructure, the head of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) in Africa said.
Often ranked as the poorest continent in the world, Africa has posted strong growth rates of about 5 percent in recent years, second only to Asia, drawing rising inward investment.
Although Africa may have enviable economic growth rates by global standards, they are still not enough to pull its growing population out of poverty.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its growth forecasts for Africa in 2012 to 5.4 percent, lower than previous forecasts.
Many African countries had embarked on rehabilitation and construction of vital infrastructure systems that were quickly attracting investors locally and internationally, Tegegnework Gettu, who heads the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Africa Bureau, told a conference in Mombasa on Tuesday.
“Investment in Africa has gone up to 15 Percent in the last five years alone. This is a remarkable achievement. Africa is so far the fastest growing continent globally. We need to keep this spirit. We need to hasten our infrastructural development, because this is the time for Africa,” Gettu said.
“At the port in Singapore it takes 8 minutes to clear a ship, in Kenya it takes hours, even days sometimes. Those are the issues we should be dealing with and am glad most African countries including Kenya are on course,” he added.
