By Peter Olorunnisomo – A gathering of African entrepreneurs and their guests discussed ways and means to boost economic growth during the just ended 6th edition of the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Coming on close after the African heads of government confab in Rwanda, the economic growth of the African is beginning to enjoy a concentration of efforts that it hasn’t enjoyed for a great while. While the Rwanda confab occasioned a pact on trade tariff regimes among African states, the need to stimulate entrepreneurial activities and reposition them for benevolent regimes and enduring economic weather has caught the attention of the policy and financial sector of the African terrain.
This is re-inforced by the public and private sector participatory concept that aims to inject economic capacity into the sphere of entrepreneurial activities and also encourage trans-border trade to facilitate a wider market appeal and further boost the adventure of economic activities and potential local street markets may have.
The two-day conference brought together around 1,200 delegates including, heads of state, African and international CEO’s, investors, bankers and other stake holders to discuss Africa’s economic transformation and the role of the continent’s private sector.
“We are committed to ensure that we can continue to exchange on the major questions of our continent and make sure that we are moving towards industrialisation and in fact see the need to go in that direction,” Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara said.
A recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report projected that economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to rise 3.4 percent this year from 2.6 percent in 2017.
It may perhaps not be wishful to expect a transformation on the economic front of sub-saharan Africa given investors’ appetite resultant from a new found vigour of concentrated efforts at boosting the African economic and the support of the African Union. The middle east is also reacting positively in the regards
However, the report adds that the continent should look out for rising debt and political risks in larger economies which could weigh down future growth.
In recent times, a few African countries have exclaimed on the weight that debt servicing has placed on their economies with dire impact on their GDP. The resultant effect is akin to servicing the debts with possibly up to 50% of GDP and thus stagnating local economic growth and reducing the abilities of governments to servicing their recurrent expenditures even at the expense of local debts.
“As Alassane Ouattara said earlier on, in 2050, one in four habitants on earth will be African. He didn’t say where they will be living. In Europe we wish they should live here to develop the area.” Swiss economist, Pierre Maudet said.
African countries have been advised to diversify from dependence on commodities and oil and implement fiscal reforms to stimulate growth and attract private investment.
The forum equally recognised African business executives, whose companies have been influential in the continent’s growth.
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