Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa lead Africa's economic growth

[Al-khiyal]

Shanghai, May 14, 2007 -- The consistent economic growth recorded by four African countries – Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria and Egypt – helped Africa record a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.5 per cent in 2006, the continent’s highest economic growth in the last two decades.

This was disclosed in a new report jointly produced by the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), released yesterday at the opening of the African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Shanghai, China.

The report, tagged African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2006/2007, indicated that GDP growth rate in Africa has averaged about 5 percent annually in the past six years, rising to 5.5 percent in 2006, and is expected to reach 6 percent in 2007.

According to the AEO, Nigeria’s GDP growth of 5.3 percent in 2006 is projected to accelerate to seven percent in 2007 on account of recent increases in oil prices and increased oil production as stability is restored to the Niger Delta area, and non-oil sectors of agriculture and services continued their rapid growth. The report stated that the main factors supporting this growth performance were strong external demand for oil and non-oil minerals, increased investment in these sectors, and good weather conditions for agriculture.

It added that, the sustenance of sound macroeconomic policies in most of the countries has also increased business confidence leading to a pickup in private sector investment generally.

However, the Chief Economist of ADB, Dr. Louis Kasekende pointed out that, “Yet, the continent still needs to accelerate and sustain growth to the level of 7 to 8 percent to be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015”.

Apart from South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, and Egypt (SANE), which account for half of the continent’s GDP and nearly a third of its population, the report also stated that in some other African countries economic growth rates were even higher at an average of 6 percent with net oil exporters across the board enjoying high growth, averaging 5.9 percent, while net oil importers recorded an average growth rate of 5.2 percent.

“Going by sub-regions, the average growth rate for Southern Africa was projected to increase from 5.4 per cent in 2006 to 6.1 per cent in 2007.

"Angola’s growth rate is expected to nearly double to 27 per cent in 2007 (largely due to rising oil sector activity in new oil fields, and to a lesser extent by increased diamond mining).

"In South Africa growth — at 5 percent, its highest since the end of Apartheid — has been broad-based and mainly driven by domestic demand.

“The projections for South Africa indicate that GDP growth should remain robust at about 4.5 percent in both 2007 and 2008, marking an important break from the relatively slow growth rates experienced over the past ten years. In Zimbabwe, economic activity continued to decline in 2006, contracting by about 5 percent.

“Real GDP growth in North African countries is expected to remain high at.6 per cent, in both 2007 and 2008 on account of the exceptionally high growth rates estimated for Mauritania and Sudan mainly due to increases in oil and gas production.

"Strong growth was also recorded in Egypt (6.8 percent). In Morocco, the recovery of agricultural output with the ending of the drought led to a GDP growth of 7.3 percent in 2006.

“Economic growth in the countries of West Africa is projected to accelerate from 4.8 percent in 2006 to 5.9 percent in 2007.

“Sierra Leone’s and Ghana’s performance continued to be relatively strong in 2006 (7.4 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively).

"In the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), economic performance in 2006 were affected by the political situation in Côte d’Ivoire, reductions in the output of cereals and groundnuts, as well as industrial output.”

Meanwhile, the Shanghai International Convention Center became a bee-hive of activity as the Chinese business hub and economic capital yesterday began the hosting of the 2007 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (ADB) Group.

The Annual Meetings of the Bank Group’s Board of Governors, representing 77-country shareholders of the multilateral finance institution, is an occasion to review its activities and map out programmes for the coming year, within the framework of ongoing Bank wide reforms.

“The Bank is taking steps to increase the quality of its operations and enhance its effectiveness. This is underpinned by four basic principles; country focus and ownership; greater selectivity; strategic partnership with other development partners and scaling up the knowledge area to provide its members with alternative perspectives in terms of how best to overcome the challenges they face,” says ADB President Donald Kaberuka, in a foreword to ‘African Development Report 2006’, launched yesterday.

Three Heads of State – Presidents Pedro Pires of Cape Verde, Marc Rava-lomanana of Madagascar and Paul Kagame of Rwanda – and over 2,000 top government officials, business leaders, representatives of NGOs, civil society, as well as members of the academic community and the media from the Bank Group’s member countries will be participating in the event.

A ministerial round table discussion will focus on the development of partnerships between Africa and Asia while high level seminars will dwell on trade and capital flows between the two continents.

Other themes are on entrepreneurship, private sector development in Africa, Asian lessons in human capital and technology in development as well as regional cooperation and trans-boundary challenges.

Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa lead Africa's economic growth

[Al-khiyal]

Cape Town, South Africa, June 15, 2007 -- Africa's four biggest economic powers could become an engine for regional growth in the same way that emerging market giants Brazil, Russia, India and China are trendsetters in the rest of the developing world, a senior researcher at the African Development Bank said.

South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt (SANE) account for over half of Africa's gross domestic product - putting them on par with Brazil, Russia, India and China, or the BRICs, which often hold sway over financial markets in their regions.

It makes sense that SANE countries should feature strongly in Africa's fortunes, said Temitope Oshikoya, director of development research at the African Development Bank.

"Whatever happens to these four countries actually can affect the direction of the African economy," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa on Thursday.

He offered various examples of the SANEs' potential influence, such as their ability to absorb a vast pool of labour and encourage trade among African countries.

"So as a result you realise the same countries are extremely important for ensuring the growth prospects and greater prosperity in Africa," said Oshikoya, one of the authors of the 2007 Africa Competitiveness report.

The report highlights red tape and weak infrastructure as some of the main constraints to doing business in Africa and factors which weaken its competitive edge in the global economy.

The world's poorest continent has also fallen far behind in meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, a range of targets to erase poverty, including universal education.

Oshikoya suggested the key to meeting those goals may lie with Africa's big four.

Nigeria, for instance, has the continent's largest population. So, whatever happens there will, even if only numerically, make a considerable dent in poverty in Africa as a whole.

First, though, the SANE economies needed greater coordination among themselves, he said.

"China, Russia, India and Brazil constitute a major force as a group in the global economy ... What we really need now is to ensure proper coordination among these four [African] countries to be able to speak as one voice on behalf of Africa at a global and at the regional level."

Africa's big four could power continent, says researcher

[Al-khiyal]

Selon la Banque africaine de développement,
l’Algérie parmi les quatre pays les plus riches d’Afrique

Jeudi 10 Avril 2008 -- Selon le dernier rapport de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD), qui vient d’être publié, l’Algérie figure parmi les quatre pays les plus riches d’Afrique aux côtés de l’Afrique du Sud, du Nigeria et de l’Egypte, lesquels sont de loin les plus riches, si l’on considère leur PIB en croissance substantielle depuis 1995. Plus explicite, le document, réparti en six chapitres et 260 pages, souligne que les pays africains richement pourvus en ressources naturelles sont plus riches (en termes de recettes, de PIB et de PIB par habitant) que les pays pauvres en ressources naturelles. Cet écart s’est réduit, ajoute-t-il, entre 1980 et 2000, mais à cause du récent boom des ressources naturelles, il se creuse de nouveau.

Parmi aussi les conclusions du document, les pays riches pourvus n’ont enregistré qu’un taux de croissance moyen de 2,4% entre 1981 et 2006, niveau nettement inférieur aux 3,8% constatés en moyenne dans les pays pauvres en ressources naturelles. Le rapport en question fait également état des richesses du continent noir. Selon lui, l’Afrique possède près de 650 millions d’hectares de forêt, soit 17% de la couverture mondiale, et 3 025,8 millions d’hectares de terres exploitables. En termes de ressources non renouvelables, l’Afrique produit environ 10 millions de barils de pétrole par jour, soit 12% de la production mondiale de pétrole brut, 18% des gaz naturels liquéfiés. Le continent est le premier producteur mondial de platine et d’or. Il renferme aussi un éventail varié de minéraux précieux, ferreux, non ferreux et industriels.

Néanmoins, le document de la BAD relève que l’exploitation de ces ressources a peu d’impact sur le taux de croissance et l’amélioration des conditions de vie des populations. Il recommande, de ce fait, plusieurs conditions, dont l’amélioration de la gouvernance et de la transparence, l’éradication de la corruption et le renforcement du cadre macroéconomique, afin de tirer les dividendes de ces richesses.

Par ailleurs, quatre principaux objectifs sont visés dans ce rapport. Entre autres buts figurent la définition en termes opérationnels, la signification contextuelle des ressources naturelles et la façon dont elles s’articulent avec le développement durable et les résultats sociaux, l’examen et l’analyse des bonnes et mauvaises pratiques de gestion dans le contexte des ressources naturelles de l’Afrique, la présentation et l’analyse de la thèse selon laquelle l’amélioration de la gestion des ressources naturelles, en particulier l’utilisation de la richesse en ressources naturelles, est l’un des moyens les plus directs d’enrayer la pauvreté et le malaise économique en Afrique et, enfin, la proposition de solutions concrètes pour que les différents acteurs du secteur de l’exploitation des ressources naturelles puissent contribuer à l’amélioration des politiques et de la gouvernance publique dans les pays riches en ressources.

[Al-khiyal]

L’Algérie parmi les quatre économies émergentes en Afrique

Mercredi 10 Juin 2009 -- L'Algérie figure parmi les quatre premières économies émergentes en Afrique, selon un rapport de la Banque mondiale (BM), publié au Cap (Afrique du Sud) lors du Forum économique mondial sur l'Afrique. L'Algérie fait partie en effet du groupe SANE (South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria et Egypt), l'équivalent africain du BRIC (Brésil, Russie, Inde et Chine), des quatre plus grands pays émergents.

Selon le rapport, élaboré conjointement avec la Banque africaine de développement (BAD), les pays du SANE sont prêts à résister le mieux à la crise économique internationale en raison des réformes financières engagées depuis les années 90. L'Afrique du Sud, l'Algérie, le Nigéria et l'Egypte attirent, d'après le même document, la moitié des investissements directs étrangers (IDE) dans le continent. Ils abritent également plus de 70 % des plus grandes entreprises africaines et abritent les 50 premières banques d'Afrique.

Le Programme d'Evaluation du Système Financier algérien (FSAP) géré par le FMI et la Banque Mondiale a relevé, selon le rapport, que le système bancaire algérien ne constituait pas une menace à la stabilité macroéconomique. Mais l'Algérie doit poursuivre les réformes financières, selon le document.

L'accès limité aux services financiers demeure, d'après le rapport, un véritable obstacle pour les entreprises africaines. La BM et la BAD ont plaidé pour que les pays africain investissent dans la modernisation des infrastructures pour que le continent soit sur une trajectoire de croissance plus élevée.

[Al-khiyal]

World Bank positive about Algerian economic indicators

June 11, 2009 -- Algeria is the one of the top emerging countries in Africa, according to a report presented Wednesday (June 10th) at the opening of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, La Tribune reported. Algeria, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria are considered "ready to rebound" from the global financial crisis.

Analysts commended the performance indicators of Algerian banks and the country's monetary policy, capital market and insurance sector. "Reform of the Algerian financial sector has generated positive effects not only for the financial sector but also for the rest of the economy," the report from the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the World Economic Forum said.