Search    
    

Far From the Africa Crowd

 

TODAY'S AFRICA

-------------------------------

“Today’s Africa is clearly different from the Africa of the early 1990’s, when it was coming out of the declines after the first two oil price shocks, the debt problems, and stagnation of the adjustments years. Thanks to the recent acceleration of growth, there is a higher economic base to work with”

 “Africa today enjoys better economic prospects because its leaders have undertaken major reforms during the past 10 years and are taking increasing control of their economic destiny”

“African governments are making regional initiatives in conflict resolution and are taking action to improve governance under the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)”

The World Bank’s Country Performance and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) score is a broad measure of policy and institutional performance. With regard to Africa they have used 16 items to measure performance based on economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity and public sector management and institutions.

In 2005 the CPIA score for African countries was 2.8. By 2006, it was 3.2

According to the World Bank, countries with CPIA scores of greater than or equal to 3.5 by 2006 tend to have higher growth and lower inflation than those with lower than 3.5. Only exception is Zimbabwe.

Sign of the Times in Africa

In 2008, the Probability for conflict has declined in many African Nations from 17 to 6.

--------------------------------------

Reduced Inflation

From 1980’s to 2008- About 10 countries experienced hyper inflation at various points in time

Now, Inflation in Africa has come down since 1995. Inflation has fallen below 10% since 2002, except in Zimbabwe

Number of countries that have kept inflation below 10% a year Increased from 11 to 30 countries

READ MORE ...

Sources: Is Africa’s Economy at a Turning Point? The World Bank Africa Region-Policy Research Working Paper/World Bank Policy Research Papers –World Bank Development Indicators (WDI), February 2008