Economic growth in Africa slowed to 2,8% in 2002 against 3,5% the year before, due to continent-wide and international issues, the head of the African Development Bank said on Thursday.
Omar Kabbaj told reporters at the Bank’s new base in Tunis — where it moved in February from its long-time headquarters in Ivory Coast’s economic hub Abidjan, after the west African country became mired in war — that the slowdown was due to socio-political problems and droughts in Africa, and to the worldwide economic
downturn.
Kabbaj also warned that the war in Iraq ”could result in significant (revenue) losses” for African countries, if the conflict drags on.
The war could also ”weigh heavily on international aid resources” for Africa, he said, because if the international community has to fund a vast humanitarian operation in Iraq, ”there will be fewer resources for development”.
But, he said, it was ”difficult to make a firm statement” at this stage. The fall in growth last year marked the first time since 1995 that economic growth for the African continent had dropped below three percent, Kabbaj said.
He recalled that the Millennium Development Goals agreed by industrial and developing countries in September 2000 and widely accepted as a framework for measuring development progress, had set a goal of seven percent annual growth for Africa until 2005, aimed at slashing poverty on the continent.
Kabbaj also stressed that the Bank’s relocation to Tunis was only a temporary move.
The decision to move was taken in February, after a French-brokered peace plan to end Ivory Coast’s war, which began as a rebellion on September 19, was in stalemate and the United Nations pulled out most of its personnel from Abidjan.
The security situation in Ivory Coast would be reviewed every six months, with a view to eventually moving the Bank’s headquarters back to Abidjan, where it has been based since it was created in 1963, Kabbaj said. – Sapa-AFP