African ministers wary of US economic impacts on Africa’s economy

By Simegnish Yekoye

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - African ministers in charge of Finance, Planning and Economic Development have requested the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and African Union (AU) to undertake a study on the implications for Africa of a possible slowdown in the United States economy and the global mortgage crisis.
At the closing of the first joint annual meeting of the AU conference of the Ministers of Economy and Finance and the ECA conference of African Ministers of Finance, planning and Economic Development in Addis Ababa from 31 March to 2 April 2008, the ministers recognized the deep interdependence of countries and said that they are aware that events in other parts of the world could present opportunities as well as challenges for growth and employment in the continent.

The ministers also expressed their concern with the debt levels that are still too high and continue to pose challenge to Africa’s ability to finance its development agenda.
They noted the difficulties faced by non-HIPC countries in meeting their debt obligations, and mobilizing resources to finance their development programs and meeting MDGs, and called for more flexibility in the eligibility criteria for debt relief.

In response to the increase in oil prices, the ministers urged the AU commission and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finalize the feasibility study of the African oil fund and further called upon continental institutions, like the AU commission, ECA and AfDB, to provide African countries with platforms and networks for sharing experiences on natural resources management. The African oil fund is meant to provide assistance to low-income African-oil importing countries.
According to the ministerial statement that came out late Wednesday night, the Ministers noted thought Africa’s recent growth performance has been encouraging in regards to its impact on poverty reduction and employment creation has been limited.

"There is therefore a need to implement strategies to achieve sustained, shared and broad-based growth in order to accelerate progress towards the MDGs and effectively confront the challenges of the 21st century", the ministers noted.

Meanwhile, UNECA is to establish an Africa Center for climate change policy studies in Addis Ababa that aims at creating knowledge base to strengthen Africa’s efforts to address the challenge of climate change.
The ministers also endorsed ECA’s initiative to establish this center saying it would serve as a policy arm of the climate development Africa program and urged the AU, ECA and AfDB to take necessary action for the effective implementation of this program.