IMF Survey : Africa’s People Are Its Greatest Potential—Lagarde
By Lika Gueye
IMF Survey
May 29, 2014
Sub-Saharan Africa taking off with strong, steady growth for nearly two decades
Poverty still at unacceptable levels, with high inequality
Three priorities:
build infrastructure, build institutions, build people
Sub-Saharan Africa is clearly taking off—growing
strongly and steadily for nearly two decades and showing a remarkable resilience
in the face of the global financial crisis, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said.
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IMF chief Christine Lagarde in Maputo, Mozambique, for Africa Rising conference:
‘Now is the time to build the future’ (photo: Stephen Jaffe/IMF)
But with poverty still at unacceptable levels, high inequality, and some countries
facing recurring internal conflict, a priority for the continent is to build people,
she told the Africa Rising conference in Maputo, Mozambique.
“Africa has taken its destiny into its own hands. Now is the time to build
the future”, she added to the audience of policymakers, development partners,
civil society, academics, and business leaders from Africa.
Lagarde emphasized three priorities: build infrastructure, build institutions, and
build people—“children, youth, workers, and in particular, women,”
Lagarde said. “Africa’s greatest potential is its people.”
Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, now chair of the Africa Progress
Panel, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton also addressed the conference via
video.
Annan stressed that Africa is facing “an era of enormous opportunity”
and that it must not “squander the opportunity before us—allowing jobless
growth and inequality to impede real progress.”
Clinton said that the conference would provide a unique opportunity to leverage
the power of creative cooperation, and find solutions to the challenges Africa is
facing. “Together we can and we will continue to help Africa rise and move
toward the brighter future that all of its people deserve,” he stated.
The two-day Africa Rising
conference is co-hosted by the IMF and the government of Mozambique as a
platform to share ideas on how to sustain the sub-Saharan African region’s
current strong growth and share its benefits more widely.
Participants are scheduled to discuss crucial topics including how to harness the
wealth stemming from Africa’s natural resources; how to tackle the region’s
infrastructure gap; what is needed to create an enabling environment for a dynamic
business sector and job creation; how to deepen financial markets and broaden access
to finance in the region; how to strengthen economic stability and overcome sociopolitical
and institutional weaknesses in fragile states; and how to translate economic growth
into poverty reduction.
