African countries urged to address economic growth fragility

HARARE, March 21 (Xinhua) -- African countries have been urged to address drivers of fragility in order to reduce fragility of growth on the continent.

Addressing an African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) 21st Senior Policy Seminar under the theme "Fragility of growth in African Economies" in Harare Thursday, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said it was sad that the continent, which is endowed with rich natural resources, continues to battle high poverty levels due to prolonged uneven and unsustainable growth.

He said addressing growth fragility would result in Africa attaining robust and sustainable growth that would enable it to lift millions of its people out of poverty.

Industrialization and value addition, he said, are key to driving Africa's growth.

According to the World Bank, growth in sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to rise to 3.4 percent in 2019 and 3.7 percent in 2020-21.

However, per capita income growth is expected to remain modest, aggravating sub-Saharan Africa's development challenges.

Mangudya said Africa's growth fragility was traceable to both internal and external factors.

"Weak macro-economic policies, high dependency on agricultural and mineral products with little value addition, low production, adverse terms of trade shocks especially falling commodity prices, weak innovation as well as poorly sequenced economic reforms and low physical and human capital investments are among the major factors that continue to weigh down Africa's development," Mangudya said.

The two-day seminar to discuss issues around addressing the factors causing fragile growth in sub-Saharan Africa ends Friday.

It is being attended by participants drawn from Africa and beyond including governors of African central banks, heads of civil services, permanent secretaries and heads of government agencies and parastatals, among others.