Ethiopian PM, Zenawi, queries Africa’s growth indices

[TGD]

Although the economies of African countries on average grew by 4.5 per cent in 2010, up from 2.3 per cent in 2009, and would likely maintain a steady growth of about five per cent this year, Ethiopia's Prime Minister (PM), Meles Zenawi, has queried the quality of growth on the continent.

Also, Nigeria's commitment to the success story of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) has drawn commendations from Chairman, African Union Commission, Dr. Jean Ping.

Ping also lauded the sub-regional body's achievement in regional economic integration.

Zenawi and Ping spoke yesterday at the United Nations (UN) Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the Fourth Joint Annual Meeting of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

The team of the conference is "Governing Development in Africa: "The Role of the State in Economic Transformation."

And, Under-Secretary General and Executive Director, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Prof. Babatunde

Osotimehin, has charged African countries to spend more on health and youth development on the continent.

Osotimehin said that such investment would contribute to the realisation of the three issues under discussion at the conference, that is, governing development of Africa; green economies and global sustainability; and leveraging opportunities – prospects and policies for the next decade.

Observing that the issues paper indicated that African economies have recently been growing faster than usual, Zenawi, whose country's economy grew by seven per cent in 2010 and is expected to grow by 11 per cent this year, argued that the quality of Africa's growth leaves much to be desired.

His words: "The key driver of our growth has been the high demand for commodities and the concomitant increase in price for Africa's natural resource-based products. The improved growth performance in our

economies has not resulted in transformation of our economies nor has it been inclusive enough. In addition, the pace of growth itself needs to be speeded up if Africa is to catch up with the rest of the world."

Zenawi stressed that the primary objective of a developmental state is to bring about radical transformation of the political economy of a country such that value creation through producing globally competitive products and services becomes the only dominant path to wealth.

He said: "This task is done through removing all bottlenecks to production activities, including by providing comprehensive support to such actors and by systematically eliminating the sources of unproductive rent-seeking activities. The developmental state will have to acquire certain attributes to achieve such a demanding task."

He also noted that not all countries in Africa will adopt the developmental state approach and not all those who embark on such a path are going to succeed.

Ping stated that the history of development in the world had shown that no country could survive on its own.

Stressing the need for African countries to unite, he said: "If we cannot speak with one voice, we should be able to speak with a single voice.

"A perfect example is the Economic Community for West African States, which currently represents about 400 million market, guaranteeing free movement of people, goods and services. It's better to work in this type of market than that of 500,000 inhabitants."

Osotimehin, Nigeria's former Minister of Health came to the conference with the UNFPA Regional Director (Africa) Mr. Bunmi Makinde.

Source: Ethiopian PM, Zenawi, queries Africa's growth indices