Accelerating Africa's Development - UNECA

African economic growth will accelerate in 2007, though reforms are needed to underpin "very fragile foundations," according to a report by the UN Economic Commission for Africa. It says the continent's economies will grow by 5.8% on average in 2007, up from 5.7% a year earlier. Better management and demand for commodities will boost expansion. However, to keep growing, Africa needs to diversify its economic output and spend on infrastructure, the UN warned. A number of factors pose risks to growth in Africa, including the spread of HIV/AIDS that threatens to incapacitate a large chunk of the workforce, the UN said in its report, called Accelerating Africa's Development through Diversification.

COMING SOON: 2007 ECONOMIC REPORT ON AFRICA

ECA MEDIA ADVISORY

COMING SOON: 2007 ECONOMIC REPORT ON AFRICA

Addis Ababa, 29 March 2007 (ECA) -- The 2007 edition of the Economic Report on Africa (ERA 2007), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's annual flagship publication, will be launched on 3 April 2007. The report, titled “Accelerating Africa's Development through Diversification”, notes that African economies continued to sustain the growth momentum of previous years, recording an overall real GDP growth rate of 5.7% in 2006.

It will be officially launched during the 2007 Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development which takes place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 2 – 3 April. The theme of this year's conference is: “Accelerating Africa's Growth and Development to Meet the Millennium Development Goals - Emerging Challenges and the Way Forward”.

ERA is the key instrument through which African economic performance is tracked and assessed by the Commission. One of the main goals of the ERA is to identify policy challenges that countries face on the continent and to suggest practical solutions. Targeted at African and global policymakers, the ERA is meant to stimulate a process of discussion and change. This year the report is co-published with the African Union Commission (AUC) for the first time.

ERA 2007 underscores serious concerns about the sustainability of the recent regional economic growth momentum in the medium run. It stresses that the lack of diversification of the production and export base exposes African economies to the vagaries of international markets, making growth highly volatile and increasing macroeconomic uncertainty. It therefore argues for a paradigm shift, making diversification the cornerstone of economic policy design as a means of both accelerating growth and sustaining high levels of growth.

The ERA 2007 launch event will take place at 13:00 GMT on 3 April at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa.

(END) For more information on ERA 2007 please contact Max Bankole Jarrett

Tel +251-1-15 516294, +251-9-11-221727 fax +251-1-51 22 33,

E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org

Copies of the report will be available on the ERA 2007 website at www.uneca.org/era2007 from 13:00 GMT on Tuesday 3 April 2007