Economic growth rates must rise in Africa if...ADB Boss
Ghana Airways gets new Chief Executive
Approved companies would be distinct – Kyeremanteng
Economic growth rates must rise in Africa
if...ADB Boss
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) 04 June 2003 – The President of the
African Development Bank, Omar Kabbaj has stated that African countries will
have raise substantially their economic growth rates in order to garner any
meaningful growth.
He said the continent's growth rates usually averaging 3.3 percent since 1995, with a per capita income growth rates of around 1 percent, "is clearly not going to result in large reductions in the number of people living below the poverty line.
Speaking at the joint ADB and UN Economic Commission for
Africa (UNECA) Symposium at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Kabbaj
said many studies show that there is a need to double the average growth rates
to between 6-8 percent.
The Conference is under the theme: Progress Towards Achieving the Millennium
Development Goals in Africa.
Kabbaj was speaking on the subject:"Poverty Reduction,
Social Development, and the Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Are we
Making Progress on the Ground?"
Sounding upbeat and very concerned about the dire situation
in which the continent finds itself, he said growth should not only be
accelerated, but be broad-based in order to have the desired impact on poverty.
"This will entail, in the first instance, that
agricultural and rural development - on which most of the poor in Africa depend
for their livelihood -- will be given a high priority." As in previous
years, the Symposium focuses on a subject of topical interest to regional
member countries and development partners.
The issue of poverty reduction and social development, and
the progress that Africa is making towards the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs,) are clearly at the centre of discussions. The Symposium would also
allow Africa to determine what more needs to be done, and what additional
policies they could consider, to improve the probability of attaining these
goals.
He said: in the Bank's view, MDG's have enormous import for
both the developed and the developing world and represent our common
aspirations of human betterment as they aim to reduce income-poverty and its
social manifestations and poor health and inadequate education opportunities
"Unlike earlier declarations, a unique characteristic
of the MDGs is that they have set clear and quantifiable targets against which
we can measure the progress that our countries are making.
"They have also set clear targets for the types of
assistance our development partners are expected to provide in support of
developing countries. The MDGs are the yardsticks with which we can all measure
our progress and contributions for mutual accountability," Kabbaj said.
The ADB President said, countries should do everything
possible by adopting an agricultural-led development process, which means
providing special and targeted support to small and medium-sized enterprises to
create employment.
He said in the longer term, economic growth could only be
sustained through the structural transformation of African economies by the
diversification of the production structure and exports.
"Achieving higher growth rates also requires major
improvements in the investment climate. This is necessary for the mobilization
of both domestic and foreign resources.
"In this regard, substantial progress has been made by
our countries, yet more needs to be done. Particular attention should be paid
to improving the legal and judicial framework, as well as improving systems for
the protection of property rights." He called for an increase in the share
of public resources directed to education and health, with particular focus on
primary education and health.
This not only has direct and immediate benefits, but could
be a powerful stimulant for economic growth. In addition to increasing
expenditure of social development, there is also a need to ensure that these
resources are
used efficiently and effectively.
"Indeed a number of studies have shown that improving
the efficiency with which public resources are used could yield quite high
dividends," he added. Kabbaj charged Africa's development partners to
support these efforts in line with the pledges that they have made within the
Millennium Development Goals (MDG's)
He stressed that such assistance should focus on increasing ODA
flows, reducing the debt burden of African countries to sustainable levels, and
providing greater access to the markets of the industrial countries, by
removing the remaining tariffs and non-tariff barriers, as well as agricultural
subsidies.
The international donor community has over the last few
years taken important new initiatives to support the efforts of developing
countries as they strive to achieve the MDGs.
The European Union and the United States have pledged to
increase substantially their share of ODA. Kabbaj said actual pledges, while
significant, however, fall considerably below the levels required by developing
countries, in particular, Africa.
He said the ADB itself is also helping to support the
efforts that its regional member countries are making towards achieving the
MDGs.
"In this regard, we have developed our first Strategic
Plan, covering the period 2003 to 2007 to enable us to translate our Vision
into clearly spelt our priorities, and to allocate the Bank's human and
financial resources accordingly."
Kabbaj said the ADB is in the process of preparing the new
generation of Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), which, "in consultation with
national stakeholders and development partners, will guide our interventions in
our regional member countries."
The CSPs will also help identify concrete programmes and
projects that would support the efforts being made to achieve the MDGs.
"Indeed, in the formulation of our CSPs, the MDGs have not only become
important guideposts but also yardsticks with which we can measure the impact
of our contributions."
The Bank Group is also providing debt relief of $2.2 billion
to some 22 countries that have qualified for HIPC debt relief. In this regard,
the effective use of the resources released by debt relief to support poverty
reduction activities is a major concern and an important aspect of our policy
dialogue.
He said achieving the MDGs will not only require determined
and coherent national efforts, but increased cooperation at the regional and
sub-regional levels.
It is for this reason, he said that the Bank has supported
regional cooperation and integration efforts and welcomed the NEPAD initiative
itself as a determined effort of changing the lives of the millions of Africans
living in abject poverty.
Kinglsey Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of UNECA said the
most remarkable fact about the MDGs is that they were adopted at all. He said
the United Nations and its agencies are framing their activities around the
MDGs.
"They provide a target to aim at and a set of
indicators whereby progress can be measured. They thereby provide consensus and
coherence."
He said the goals themselves - reducing poverty, increasing
educational levels, enhancing gender equality, reducing child mortality, and
reducing the burden of disease - are closely interlinked and demand a holistic
approach by all partners in development.
Amoako urged African countries to work on eliminating the HIV/AIDS epidemic if they are to achieve all the other MDGs. "Not only is AIDS a survival issue for millions of Africans, it is also pivotal to our aspirations of sustainable development and good governance.
At the ECA, we believe that nothing is more critical than
overcoming HIV/AIDS." He said Africa, especially is now confronted with
the stark reality that suffering and death on this scale will severely impact
upon the ability to meet all our development goals.
"It is in response to this challenge that the United
Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has convened the Commission for HIV/AIDS
and Governance in Africa, a new high-level initiative which I shall be
chairing, and which will be headquartered here in the ECA."
The Commission aims to equip African policymakers with the
tools for addressing the profound structural impact HIV/AIDS is having on the
capacity to meet development challenges.
Economists currently estimate that HIV/AIDS is cutting about
1 per cent off the growth rates of affected countries. Although this kind of
setback is quite within the range of what could be caused by policy errors,
drought, or commodity price fluctuations, consider what it means when
aggregated year-on-year over a decade.
He indicated that a yearly shackle of one per cent may not
seem huge, but, "it means that in a decade's time, key national economies,
such as South Africa and Kenya, will be substantially smaller than they would
otherwise have been, and that the poverty reduction goal will be much harder to
achieve."
"The MDGs commit us to eliminating hunger. But the
depth of poverty in much of Africa means that millions are vulnerable to acute
hunger should the rains fall or the prices of key export commodities fall.
"Ethiopia, is a case in point. Despite a decade of
internal peace and pro-poor policies, twelve million Ethiopians face hunger
today, while rural Ethiopia still has low rates of HIV.
"But what may happen if the AIDS epidemic follows the
same trajectory as in southern Africa? The future then would be bleak in the
extreme," he added.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June 2003 - The Board of Directors
of Ghana Airways Limited on Tuesday announced the appointment of Philip Owusu,
a Management Consultant, as the new Chief Executive of the Company.
A statement issued in Accra said the appointment took effect
from 22 May. It said with the assumption of duty of Owusu, William P. Bray, who
was acting as Chief Executive, had reverted to his position as a member of the
Board of Directors. The statement said Owusu, who holds Graduate Degrees in
Electrical Engineering as well as Finance, worked with the World Bank for 25
years in various capacities and locations.
It said since returning home in 1999, he had worked as a
consultant for several organisations including the Ministry of Finance. He acted
as Managing Director of Ghana Telecom from November 2002 to January 2003.
GRi…/
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Approved companies would be distinct – Kyeremanteng
Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June 2003 – The Minister of Trade,
Industry and Presidential Initiatives, Alan Kyeramanteng has said that all
approved business liability companies would be distinct from the District
Assembly and the District Coordinating Committee.
According to the Minister the Rural Enterprises Development
Programme (REDP), which starts January next year is being driven by the
Ministry of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives (MOTI/PSI), in
all the 110 District Assemblies, where assistance would be offered for the
development of three commercially viable flagship projects to generate a total
of 330 business enterprises in rural communities over a three year period.
The meeting was addressed by the Sector Minister, Alan
Kyeramanteng, Major Courage Quashigah, Minister of Food and Agriculture and Mr
Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development whose
sector ministries would be part of the project co-ordination.
Kyeremanteng exposed the participants to the project
document dubbed: "Accelerated Rural Development" that focused on the
objectives of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy through the Industrial
Reform and Accelerated Growth Programme.
The first project strategy is the development of an
export-oriented industrialization drive focused primarily on agro-processing
and other manufacturing activities to promote the President's Special
Initiatives on products like cassava, starch, salt and palm oil.
The second strategy is a comprehensive Import-Substitution Programme, targeted at producing locally, 70 per cent of all non-petroleum imports, as well as 50 per cent of all processed foods and agricultural products imported by individuals and companies.
The shareholders would include citizens of the district,
district assembly and traditional authorities. Major Quashigah dwelt on the
promotion of agri-business through effective methods of food preservation and
processing to minimise post-harvest losses.
He called on the DCEs to consider the development of
standard warehouses as part of their input to the REDP to promote marketing of
foodstuffs. Adjei-Darko announced plans for the establishment of a pilot -
Farmers Market in Tema in August to give a boost to food marketing.
He asked the DCEs to be proactive in improving the economic
lot of their districts instead of "waiting to receive and disburse sums of
monies; and then your job is finished."
GRi…/
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