POVERTY: Africa must diversify economies

18 May 2010 – High unemployment rates continue to hinder poverty reduction efforts in Africa, the United Nations says in a new report released today, stressing that African countries must give priority to diversifying their economies to create decent jobs to boost social development.
“Africa’s long-term growth prospects and ability to sustain high rates of employment generation and broader social development depend on success in economic diversification,” according to the Economic Report on Africa 2010, published by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union Commission.
The current global economic crisis offers African countries an opportunity to lay the foundation for sustainable, employment-intensive economic growth, says the report.
“The recession should work as a wake-up call for Africa to deal with its vulnerabilities and introduce further reforms to promote growth, but more particularly employment creation to promote social development in the region,” said Rob Vos, Director of Development Policy of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), at the launch of the report in New York.
The report – whose theme is “Promoting High-level Sustainable Growth to Reduce Unemployment in Africa” – recommends investment in infrastructure and human capital, renewed efforts to mobilize domestic resources, market reforms, incentives to support private-sector employment and efforts to increase productivity and incomes in the informal sector.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34736&Cr=economic+development&Cr1=