African economies defy global trend: UN

This marks a pronounced recovery and a return to the solid growth trend that emerged after the peak of 208 global economic crisis. With strong recovery in many African countries we hope that progress of social development goals the MDGs in particular should be accelerated in 2012 and 2013 towards 2015, said Adam Elhiraika, Chief of Macroeconomic Analysis Section at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, who was briefing journalists about the Report.
The Report says relatively strong commodity prices, solid external capital inflows and a continued expansion of demand and investment from Asia will be the important driving forces for the trend.
Countries across the continent will continue to have widely divergent growth outcomes owing to military conflicts, lack of infrastructure, corruption and severe drought, states the WESP.
In North Africa sub-region, Libya is estimated to have contracted by 25 percent in 2011 in the wake of the recent regime change, but reconstruction is expected to drive a rebound. Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia are all expected to see a more pronounced increase in economic growth in 2012.
Growth rates in the sub-region will remain constrained by uncertain political conditions, negatively affecting the tourism sector in particular, but the region should see a post-conflict bounce, says the Report.
In East Africa, Ethiopia will reflect continued infrastructure improvements, especially in the energy sector which overshadow the negative impact of drought conditions on agricultural output in some areas. Kenya will see continued strength in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth figure, driven by infrastructure investment, the expansion of the telecommunication sector and increased banking participation rates.
Uganda is also expected to see solid growth on the back of large energy investments, states the Report.
WESP says there is relatively positive outlook for South Africa and energy producers in the region. South Africa is forecast to see stronger economic growth in 2012, underpinned by favorable external demand, continued fiscal stimulus and rising consumption driven by higher wages. Elevated oil prices will continue to create significant upside potential for oil-producing economies such as Angola, Ghana and Nigeria. – Xinhua.