The recently published 2007 editions of the African Economic Outlook (AEO 2007) and African Competitiveness Report (ACR) shine a positive light on the rapid development of the African economy which has stood at 5 percent growth on average for the past six years.

The report published at the African Development Bank's annual meeting in Shanghai put African economic growth at close to 5.5 percent for 2006 and estimated it at between 5.7 and 5.9 percent for 2007-2008.

The AEO denotes that the factors propelling this growth are widespread ranging from strong external demand for oil and other minerals, related increased investment in these sectors and clement weather benefiting agriculture. Furthermore, the pursuit of careful macro-economic policies has led to increased investor confidence in many countries.

Africa's four main economies (South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, and Egypt), termed the SANE, accounting for half of the continent's GDP and nearly a third of its population have all enjoyed strong growth at an average of 5.1 percent. This rose to 6 percent among other African nations, with net oil exporters enjoying a significant 5.9 percent growth, 0.7 better than net oil importers.

However, Dr. Louis Kasekende, chief economist of the ADB, warned that the continent must continue to accelerate its growth in order to achieve the 7-8 percent growth required by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) aiming to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.

The AEO 2007 is a joint publication of the African Development Bank and the OECD Development Center. It is the world's most comprehensive survey of African economies by sampling 31 countries for analysis. Its three parts are an overview of specific international developments that may impact on African economies; individual notes on the countries selected and a statistical appendix on African countries.

Its key objective is to increase the knowledge base of African economies while providing support and analysis on policymaking, investment decisions and donors' interventions. As its reputation grows so does its research capacity as additional African experts and institutions participate in its preparation.

Operating under a different Africa's socio-economic theme year, the 2007 AEO focused on water and sanitation in Africa, one of the important targets of the MDG. Its contributing experts addressed the situation and found that although water availability in Africa is good on the whole, the lack of any sector-specific infrastructure or investment is proving to be a severe obstacle.

The 2007 African Competitiveness Report (ACR) is a joint publication of the World Economic Forum (WEF), ADB and the World Bank. Currently on its fourth edition, it tracks recent competitiveness performances and highlights issues and challenges impairing competitive development in Africa. Written over seven chapters, each section covers a major issue namely Africa's competitiveness in a global context; private investment climate, job creation and productivity; gender, entrepreneurship in Africa and information and communication technologies in Africa.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Li Shen, May 14, 2007)