Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Africa Takes Off - Sub-Saharan Africa is starting to shed its reputation as an economic laggard. The West should pay attention

Pity sub-Saharan Africa -- but maybe for not much longer. In the first decade of the new millennium, six of the world's ten fastest-growing economies (Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique, and Rwanda) were from this region. And in eight of the past ten years, it has grown faster than Asia.


To be sure, some of the region's growth stars owe their success in part to the global boom in commodity prices, most notably in oil. But Ethiopia managed to grow by 7.5 percent last year without producing a drop of petroleum. (Ethiopia's brightest newest export: cut flowers.)
Note, too, that average incomes in sub-Saharan Africa are still very low; for example, the per capita income in Chad is below $1,800 measured in terms of purchasing power, less than a tenth that of Poland or the Czech Republic. It will thus take decades of years of growth to bring living standards to acceptable levels.
But according to the IMF, the region is on track to grow by six percent this year, about the same as Asia. And there are convincing reasons to believe that a healthy pace can be maintained for the foreseeable future. Indeed, in the World Bank's view, Africa "could be on the brink of an economic take-off, much like China was 30 years ago, and India 20 years ago." That should be raising doubts about the appropriateness of international assistance policies based on the presumption that Africa still lacks the capacity to break out of its dispiriting cycle of poverty, dysfunctional governance and tribal violence. More on that later.
Ready to be surprised? Trade between Africa and the rest of the world tripled in the last decade. And by no coincidence, Africa has attracted more private foreign investment than official aid since 2005. Consider, too, that Africa's share of global foreign direct investment -- the most prized sort, since it brings along technology and management skills -- rose from less than one percent in 2000 to 4.5 percent in 2010.
But perhaps the most visible evidence of widening prosperity is the incredibly rapid penetration of mobile communications. Take Ghana, which, by the World Bank's reckoning, graduated to middle-income status last year. In the late 1990s, the country has a mere 50,000 working phone lines in a country of nearly 20 million. Now, three-quarters of the population has access to cell phones with both voice and instant-message capability.
In fact, the amount of money directed towards phone use has forced government bean counters to reconsider their (sometimes very rough) estimates of the region's income. In Ghana's case, the government recently revised upwards its estimate of private GDP by an astonishing two-thirds.

Debat Sinar II temukan Saifuddin dan Salahuddin


saifuddin & salahuddin
Salahuddin (kiri) dan Saifuddin (kanan)


SHAH ALAM - Untuk kali kedua, Debat Sinar Harian akan dianjurkan antara dua tokoh berlainan ideologi politik bagi memberi peluang kepada rakyat mendengar idea mereka berhubung isu yang menjadi buah mulut masyarakat hari ini.

Penasihat Eksekutif Editorial Sinar Harian, Datuk Abd Jalil Ali berkata, tajuknya masih lagi dibincangkan peringkat akhir sebelum diumumkan penganjur dalam masa terdekat.

“Debat antara Ahli Majlis Tertinggi Umno, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah dan Naib Presiden Pas, Salahuddin Ayub itu akan diadakan di Auditorium Kumpulan Media Karangkraf pada 19 Jun depan.

“Penyertaannya adalah terhad, jadi kami akan membuat jemputan khas untuk 350 kerusi yang disediakan pada malam berkenaan,” katanya kepada Sinar Harian semalam.

Debat berkenaan akan dikendalikan oleh Pensyarah Jabatan Pengajian Strategik dan Antarabangsa, Fakulti Sastera dan Sains Sosial, Universiti Malaya, Prof Datuk Mohamad Abu Bakar.

Abd Jalil berkata, Sinar Harian sebagai akhbar rasmi, juga akan siarkan laporan penuh debat ini keesokan harinya.

“Sinar Harian telah mengadakan beberapa perbincangan dengan kedua-dua pendebat ini, masing-masing menunjukkan kesungguhan dan sedia berdepan dengan hujah masing-masing,” katanya lagi.

Sebelum ini, Sinar Harian pernah menganjurkan 13 siri wacana setiap bulan dengan pelbagai tajuk menarik untuk disajikan kepada pembaca setia.


(Sumber - http://www.sinarharian.com.my)