Africa grinds under global recession
Nearly
30 million Africans have been pushed into extreme poverty as the
global meltdown takes its toll on the world’s poorest continent
according to submissions at the recent three-day World
Economic Forum on Africa. The event held in Cape Town, South Africa.
This year’s event focused on " the world economic downturn and how to lessen its effect on African economies.
With stinging economic realities in advanced countries resulting in shrinking budgets, job losses and closing factories, Africa has had to make do with offshore financial pittance. "For most African countries, that are still highly indebted and dependent on aid for their revenues, the continuation of the current crisis will mean increased starvation, poverty and child mortality," South African President Jacob Zuma told participants while opening the forum. He told Voice of America that developing nations do not have the resources to respond to the world recession in the same way as industrialized economies. Africa must look inward and work harder at its natural resources, particularly agriculture to improve its population, said Managing Director of the World Bank Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala while offering statistics of how the impact of the meltdown on the continent. She said said an additional 53 million people worldwide, 60% of whom are in Africa, have been pushed into poverty because of the global recession.
Okonjo-Iweala, co-chair of the Cape Town forum, said it has been
imperative for African governments to invest heavily in the
agricultural sector. The continent was still far from
adddressing of life’s basic neccesity and food security has remained
a fundamental challenge. “I think the issue has been how
African countries can sustain that momentum in this time of
crisis. Africa cannot afford to be seen as a victim in this crisis,”
Iweala told her audience.
The event witnessed the official release of the African Competitiveness Report 2009. It was released jointly by the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. The report "showed Africa again languishing at the bottom of global competitiveness rankings because of bottlenecks in infrastructure, finance and communications."
The annual report is put out by the African Progress Panel (APP),
which is led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
According to Inter Press Service News Agency, the APP report
says that Africa "cannot tackle the current situation alone. There
is a shared responsibility for the crisis that requires joint
response based on strong partnerships." Annan said, "Africa has not
been affected as profoundly by the economic downturn as other
parts of the world." However, he added that "the crisis has
underscored the continent's vulnerability and is undermining
the progress made over the past decade or so" (IPS, 6/11).
AP/Washington Post writes of the progress: "The numbers of people
living in poverty are leveling out, democracy and market reforms are
entrenched in many countries, and great strides are being made
against killer diseases such as AIDS and malaria.”
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