WB says regional ties key to Africa’s economic growth

Closer regional integration and additional investment in energy, irrigation and transport could help solidify the growth of African economies after the devastating effects of the global economic downturn, the World Bank President, Mr Robert Zoellick, said ahead of an eight-day tour of the continent starting today.

“We need policies and investments that would expand Africa’s share of global and intra-African trade by fostering regional integration and building crucial infrastructure in energy, transport and irrigation needed to promote agriculture, manufacturing and industrialisation on the continent and for helping countries adapt to climate change,” he said.

Stimulus packages

Projections by the World Bank’s recently released Global Economic Prospects 2010 report showed that the collapse of global trade in the wake of the crisis affected growth in sub-Saharan Africa to about one per cent last year compared to five per cent five years ago with the biggest effects being felt in key sectors such as tourism and commodity export trade.

Faced with such challenges, most countries in Africa opted to increase trade among themselves or turn to markets in Asia such as China that had not been hard hit by the downturn. For instance within the East African Community (EAC), trade among the member states was stronger during the crisis even as they eyed a larger market arrangement comprised of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the EAC itself.

Most governments including Kenya further opted to release stimulus packages directed towards the enhancement of infrastructure such as irrigation to help stem the effects of the financial crisis on the economy.

An official itinerary showed that Mr Zoellick is today expected to begin an eight-day, three-nation Africa visit to help focus the attention of African governments, development partners and private investors on seizing the opportunity for renewed momentum in economic growth and overcoming poverty. Mr Zoellick is scheduled to first visit Sierra Leone before travelling to Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia where he would attend the upcoming African Union (AU) summit.

“I am visiting Africa to learn about how its people have coped with the global economic crisis and to see how the World Bank Group can work with them to improve prospects for economic growth and expanded opportunity. Much of Africa has a solid record of economic growth, including in some of Africa’s fragile states, and it has the potential to be another pole of growth for the world economy,” Mr Zoellick said.

He said that although hit by the global food, fuel and financial crises, African governments have persisted in strengthening their economic policies as they pursue development, or rebuild after conflict.

“A combination of policy and institutional reforms and external resources are urgently needed to help build capacity, generate economic opportunities in fragile states, and lay the foundation for stability and overcoming poverty,” he said.

Meanwhile Mr Zoellick,jointly with African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka, will on the sidelines of the AU summit host a special session for several African leaders to discuss the transformative impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on growth in the continent.

“The skeptics wondered whether Africa was ready for a revolution in telecommunications. But African entrepreneurs, with the help of supportive government policies, changed the facts on the ground,” said Zoellick.

The World Bank boss said private sector participation will continue to be key to take Africa to the next level of high-speed connectivity.

“The forum is expected to urge African leaders to further lift barriers to private sector investment in the sector,” the bank said in a statement.

As part of his trip, Mr Zoellick is scheduled to visit energy, agriculture and fishery projects that have benefited from World Bank support and also hold working sessions with representatives of other donor agencies to discuss ways of boosting the institution’s support to governmental and civil society organisations promoting peace, transparency, accountability, and good governance.