African countries have taken a severe knock from the global economic crisis, and some of the financial commitments to help the continent have not materialised, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.
Gordhan told a conference to discuss the World Development Report 2009 that only about 10 to 15 countries in the continent had the capacity to implement counter-cyclical responses to help them weather the economic crisis.
”Developing countries are still being severely impacted and in Africa in particular, low-income countries depending on mineral products, such as diamonds, copper and other commodities, are taking a severe knock.”
He said economic growth in some African countries has ”gone into deep negative figures”, and fiscal deficits ranged from 10% to 15%, constraining most countries’ ability to respond meaningfully to the global economic crisis.
The report, with the theme ”Reshaping Economic Geography”, says one of Africa’s biggest disadvantages is its long distance from global markets. It said regional integration, investment in trade, communication and transport infrastructure should remain high on Africa’s agenda.
Gordhan said although developed nations had committed funds to help Africa deal with the global crisis, the money had not yet materialised in most cases.
”We acknowledge the important strides that have been made at the London G20 summit and the fact that a number of commitments have been made, some of which have materialised.
”But the expectations that we have about these commitments materialising faster are certainly commitments that have not been fulfilled yet.”
Gordhan said a meeting of African finance ministers and central bank governors in Abuja this week called for ”a greater sense of urgency in terms of commitments made by the G8 [group of 8 industrialised nations]”. — Reuters