Countries Eligible for World Bank Borrowing:
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Republic of
Côte d’Ivoire
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia, The
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
São Tomé and Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Swaziland
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Africa

Regional Context

Preliminary economic data for Africa suggest a modest recovery in 1999, following a slowdown in growth a year earlier due to developments in East and South Asia and to increased conflict and adverse weather conditions in the region. Performance within the region showed divergent trends but there was continued evidence in 1999 that economies responded to social stability and sound policies. Nearly half the countries in the region posted positive per capita growth rates; however, on average, growth continues to fall short of what is needed for the absolute number of poor to decline. The outlook for 2000 is for a further acceleration of growth, with more export expansion, recovery in agriculture, and a reduction in conflict.

The continent has made significant advances over the last decade. Democratic governance has been strengthened, and the progress towards more open systems of governance seems irreversible. Most African economies are growing again. Africans are assuming leadership of the development agenda. Government ownership of reforms, accompanied by an increasing capacity for implementation, is among the more enduring development of the 1990s. Leaders across the continent have realized that the primary challenge, apart from restoring peace, is stronger and more widespread growth so that Africa can begin to make a serious dent on poverty.

Most countries have been pursuing reforms that will equip them for global economic integration: restoring macroeconomic balance, improving resource allocation, and creating conditions more promising for efficient investment. Since 1995, the median African economy has grown at about 4 percent per year, the best sustained performance since independence. Markets have been opened, currencies realigned, tariffs reduced, and price controls abolished. The export sector has been revitalized and is currently growing at around 8 percent. Ongoing efforts at regional integration are providing a boost to intra-African trade and to export expansion. Subregional institutions such as the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA), along with bilateral cooperation initiatives such as the Maputo Corridor, are facilitating cross-border trade and investment initiatives. New financial institutions and regional stock exchanges have also been taking root.

Still, only a few countries–Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Uganda, for example–have sustained growth rates that could significantly reduce poverty within a decade. Growth in the region must be accelerated to over 7 percent if Africa is to halve severe poverty by 2015, and it must be broad-based and equitably distributed. A major challenge across much of the continent is the establishment of peace, a precondition for growth. The unfinished agenda includes greater efforts at social inclusion and peace, as well as continued improvements in governance, which is broadly defined to include keeping a healthy peace, empowering local people through community-driven programs, enabling Africans by building capacity in the region, bridging the digital divide, and strengthening and enforcing the rule of law. Also crucial will be investments in infrastructure (except for South Africa, the continent has fewer roads than all of Poland) and protecting the environment, especially Africa’s forests.

There is an urgent need for determined action to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. The spread of the disease has continued unabated in most countries, threatening development in the region as a whole. The epidemic has indeed reversed progress in East and southern Africa in the last four decades, reducing life expectancy by as much as 17 years in the worst hit countries, doubling child and adult mortality rates, and depleting the already scarce supply of skilled managers. Over 23 million people in Africa live with HIV/AIDS; 3.8 million of them were infected in 1999 alone. Almost 14 million Africans have died of the disease since the start of the epidemic.