African Economic Outlook 2007
25 May 2007, 1:15 – 2:30 pm, Conference Room 7
United Nations Headquarters, New York
The African Economic Outlook is a truly unique tool combining the expertise of the OECD Development Centre and the African Development Bank to understand the economic and social developments of African countries. Fifth editions have already been published and the sixth edition will be launched on 13 May 2007 at the Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank in Shanghai. The Outlook provides comprehensive and comparable data and analysis of 31 African economies (compared to 22 countries in the third edition), accounting for 86 per cent of Africa’s population and 91 per cent of its economic output. Coverage includes:
North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
Central Africa: Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Rwanda.
East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Tanzania and Uganda.
Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia.
The analysis and data are placed in their social and political contexts. Moreover, the volume’s common analytical framework allows readers to compare individual countries’ economic prospects. An Overview summarises the AEO’s main findings and places African economies in a global economic perspective. Each year, the Outlook also provides an in-depth analysis of a topic critical for Africa’s development prospects. The 2007 focus is on Access to Drinking Water and Sanitation. Previous editions featured Promoting and Financing Transport infrastructure, Financing small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) development, privatisation and energy.
A pressing need for Africa is to move from volatile to sustainable growth. As the African Economic Outlook 2007 shows, Africa achieved its 4th straight year of strong growth in 2006 and prospects are promising for 2007 and 2008. However, the continent remains highly dependent on the ups and downs of the global economy. External vulnerability is a reflection of the marginal and passive role played by the continent in the globalisation process, and of its limited integration in international trade and investment flows in particular. Africa can become the active architect of its own integration in the global economy by better mobilising internal resources and using external catalysts for growth (investment and development aid) more strategically.
Being used by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the AEO is amongst the OECD activities of support to NEPAD’s objectives, by feeding continually international dialogue on Africa, notably in the discussions of the G8. The Outlook is indispensable to decision makers in African and OECD countries, and is of interest to aid agencies, investors and government officials. Its wide country coverage and methods of analysis are compulsory reading for all those who seek further insight into the economic successes and challenges faced by the African continent.
His launch receives each year a growing media covering both in Africa and in the OECD, contributing to maintain high attention to the development issues of the continent. The European launch of the Outlook will take place on 5 June 2007 in Paris, at the Joint OECD/AfDB Forum on African Perspectives.
2006/07 Edition Focus on Drinking Water and Sanitation
Annually, some 10 million people have been given access to drinking water over 1990-2004 in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, population has grown even faster and the absolute number of unserved people has increased by about 60 million over the same period. Consequently, the number of people accessing water annually would need to triple in order for SSA to reach the water MDG by 2015. The situation of sanitation is even more dramatic both in terms of access and of limited progress since 1990.
But limited access to water and sanitation in Africa is not mainly a resource issue. Although one-third of countries experience some pressure on their internal water resources, Africa water resources are overall considered abundant. They are however only marginally exploited under managed conditions and are further limited by pollution and, above all wastage.
The African Economic Outlook special theme for 2006/07 edition analyses where Africa stands in terms of resource endowment, access to drinking water and sanitation, organization and management of the sector.
A cross country comparison enables to highlight the experience of the good performers in this field. The lesson is that moving forward requires ambitious reforms in institutions, legal frameworks, and policies in order to change the structure of incentives. There is a need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to ensure the sustainability of expanding simultaneously access to drinking water and sanitation, while facilitating economic growth and meeting ecosystem needs. The organisation of the sector must be clearly defined and the action of the different stakeholders harmonised. Improvement also implies strengthening capacity on the ground, notably at local level where most of water management is undertaken, and developing monitoring mechanisms to follow progress and adopt corrective measures if necessary.
The financing remains a main issue: government budgets and development assistance have largely been insufficient to cover the scale of investments needed. National water providers have also failed to help establish a financially sustainable system. Alternative sources such as private participation have proved disappointing, with water and sanitation the least attractive sector to private investors.
