African Development Bank (ADB) President Akinwumi Adesina said this Thursday in Nairobi that the continent must grow at double-digit rates in the next ten years to alleviate poverty on the continent.
“The fact that real GDP growth [Produto Interno Bruto] achieving this level is not enough for us to lift hundreds of millions of our people out of poverty,” Adesina said at the launch of the ADB report on Africa’s 2024 Economic Prospects.
The AfDB Group, the continent’s largest development finance institution, estimates real GDP growth in Africa at 3.1% in 2023, rising to 3.7% in 2024 and 4.3% in 2025.
“We believe African economies must grow at double-digit rates over the next decade to achieve the type of transformation we need as a continent,” Adesina added in the same speech at the ADB group’s annual meetings in the Kenyan capital.
To achieve this, he argued, it was necessary to “guarantee the structural transformation” of African economies.
“Transfer of resources from areas of low productivity to areas of high productivity. (…) If we move to a low-productivity agricultural sector and a low-productivity services sector, we will continue to be poor,” Adesina said, assuring that the ADB was a “facilitator” in achieving these continental goals, especially regarding infrastructure.
He stressed the need for Africa to invest in “young people, their skills, talents, entrepreneurial spirit and providing them with the necessary tools.”
“Migration in Europe is not a European problem, it is our problem. We cannot have 477 million young people under the age of 35 and have nothing for them on our continent,” said the ADB president.
The “structural transformation of agriculture” through the creation of special agro-industrial transformation zones will also be of “great importance” for the continent, he said.
The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s main development finance institution and will meet in Nairobi until Friday to discuss the theme “Transforming Africa, the African Development Bank Group and the reform of the global financial architecture”, in the presence of 3,000 participants, including policymakers. , government officials, economists and experts from various fields from around the world.
These meetings include the 59th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank and the 50th Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund, both held at the Kenyatta International Conference Center in Nairobi.
According to the ADB, despite “robust economic growth over the past two decades, Africa’s economic transformation remains incomplete.”
The continent’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 4.3% per year between 2000 and 2022, “compared to the global average of 2.9%, and many of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies were in Africa.”
“Despite these strong economic growth rates, the structure of African economies has not changed significantly over the past two decades: agriculture, industry and services account for an average of 16, 33 and 51% respectively of Africa’s total economy. global GDP from 2000 to 2022. These levels are similar to those recorded in the 1990s,” the institute recalls.
Manufacturing employment is also declining due to premature deindustrialization, as “despite an increase in the number of jobs” from 20.2 million in 2000 to 33.3 million in 2021, “the sector accounts for less than 10% of total employment.”
The ADB group has 81 member countries, including 53 African countries and 28 countries outside the continent, including Portugal and Brazil.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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