African growth stalled by logistics - Unctad

African countries need to pay
greater attention to improving
infrastructure – such as roads,
railroads, ports and electricity
supply – if they want their
economies to grow.
This was the message from
a three-day United Nations
Conference for Trade and
Development regional workshop
on productive capacities, economic
growth and poverty reduction in
Africa’s least developed countries
(LDCs) held in Addis Ababa in
April.
Thirty-three of the globe’s 48
LDCs are in sub-Saharan Africa.
The conference heard that recent
increases in food and energy prices
could undercut progress made by
Africa’s (LDCs) since the turn of the
millennium, and their economies
needed greater breadth and variety
to cushion them from such shocks.
Junior Davis of Unctad’s division
for Africa, Least Developed
Countries and Special Programmes,
told the meeting that employment
and export structures were still
concentrated in a few sectors of
LDC economies, such as natural
resource extraction.
He and other speakers said that
LDC governments also should study
carefully their increasing economic
ties with other developing countries,
such as China and India, to ensure
that stable, effective economic
growth results.
Governments were urged to find
ways to boost domestic agriculture
and savings, and to promote the
growth of small and medium-sized
businesses.