The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said on Tuesday that social inequality threatens both social improvement and stability on the continent and called on African governments to develop new development models.
“It is increasingly unlikely that African states will achieve many of the targets set in the Sustainable Development Goals by 2023,” said Hanan Morsi, chief economist at Uneca, at the 55th African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Conference in Addis Ababa.
“Global shocks have wiped out more than two decades of progress made by the continent in reducing poverty. We need sustainable measures,” Mursi added, referring to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
These global shocks have been exacerbated in Africa by the effects of the climate crisis, which has led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, Morsi said.
As such, UNECA development experts warn that “persistent poverty and inequality could undermine prosperity, peace and security in Africa unless governments adopt innovative and participatory development models.”
Inflation in Africa was 12.3% in 2022 (well above the global average of 6.7%), according to data compiled by Uneca, causing households on the continent to spend up to 40% of their income on food.
Under these conditions, 310 million people in Africa faced some form of food insecurity last year, including six million Africans who faced extreme hunger.
According to Morsi, “546 million people [em África] continue to live in poverty, which is 74% more than in 1990”.
The economist recalled that, according to recent studies, the African countries with the highest levels of poverty are the Portuguese-speaking Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, as well as Burundi, Somalia, Madagascar, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRCongo) and Zambia.
In all of them, from 60 to 82% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Albert Muchanga, commissioner for trade and industry at Uneca, said the “looming crisis” of public debt and African countries’ dependence on imported goods continue to exacerbate this scenario.
In 2021, 39 African countries were net food importers.
In the same year, the continent exported products such as refined oil worth US$5.7 billion (€5.3 billion) and imported more than US$44 billion (approximately €41 billion).
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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