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AfricaJuly 2 2019

Africa's long-term financing shortfall

As a continent, Africa is enjoying improving economic health but strong regional leadership is crucial to attract the long-term financing necessary to develop and sustain its growth. James King reports on current initiatives.
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After a turbulent few years, Africa’s overall economic outlook appears to be strengthening. Against a backdrop of higher commodity prices, improving agricultural production, increased investment and rising net exports, the continent is expected to register growth of 4% in 2019, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB). This is a marked improvement from the anaemic numbers of just a few years ago, when global oil prices slumped. But will such a rate of growth be sufficient to support a region that is expanding by almost every conceivable metric?

Demographic pressures are a case in point. By 2030, Africa’s working age population is expected to hit 1 billion, up from the 705 million recorded in 2018. To simply prevent unemployment from increasing, about 12 million jobs must be generated every year, according to the AfDB. Supercharged economic growth will be required to meet the demands of this rising population, underpinned by investments in infrastructure, housing and the continent’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), among other areas.

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