By Abdi Ali
Published February 5, 2020
Although the rate of economic growth across Africa is higher than the global average, the poor are not seeing enough of the benefits of this so-called robust growth.
While presiding over the launch of the 2020 African Economic Outlook (AEO), Akinwumi Adesina, President , President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) that publishes this annual report to provide updates and forecasts of Africa’s economic performance, said, “Growth must be visible. Growth must be equitable. Growth must be felt in the lives of people.”
Adesina calls for inclusive growth, noting that Economic Growth Alone Cannot meet the needs of the continent’s poorest citizens as “Nobody eats GDP”.
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Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 3.4 percent, 3.9 percent and 4.1 percent for 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively, Adesina notes, do not tell the whole story as extreme poverty and inequality in many African countries remain higher than in other regions of the world.
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Consequently, AEO, whose theme is ‘Developing Africa’s workforce for the future’, calls for swift action to address human capital development in African countries, where inclusive growth has been held back by a mismatch between young workers’ skills and the needs of employers.
AEO, the flagship of AfDB, recommends improving access to education in remote areas through incentives such as free uniforms and text books, banning of child labour and improving teaching standards.
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It further calls on African Governments to develop a demand-driven education system in tune with rapidly emerging jobs in the private sector, including software engineers, marketing specialists and data analysts.
“Africa is blessed with resources, but its future lies in its people…education is the great equaliser. Only by developing our workforce will we make a dent in poverty, close the income gap between rich and poor, and adopt new technologies to create jobs in knowledge-intensive sectors,” says Hanan Morsy, Director of the Macroeconomic Policy,
RELATED: Forecasting and Research Department at AfDB.
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