By Khalifa Hemed
Published February 6, 2020
Africa needs to build skills in information and communication technology and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2020, the publication of the African Development Bank (AfDB) thar provides headline numbers on Africa’s economic performance and outlook, says Africa needs to build skills in ICT and STEM.
AEO, that has since 2003 been published annually, calls on African Governments to ‘invest more in education and infrastructure’ and to develop ‘a demand-driven productive workforce to meet industry needs’ in order ‘to reap the highest returns in long-term GDP growth’.
RELATED: Empower Women to Fight Climate Change
The publication that is touted as containing ‘compelling up-to-date evidence and analytics to inform and support African decision makers’ and serving as ‘a tool for economic intelligence, policy dialogue and operational effectiveness’ calls on states to invest in education and infrastructure and put priority on tackling rising youth unemployment.
“Only by developing our workforce will we make a dent in poverty, close the income gap between rich and poor, and adopt new technologies to create jobs in knowledge-intensive sectors,” says Hanan Morsy, Director of the Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research Department at AfDB.
RELATED: Personal Data Protection Guidelines for Africa Launched
The 2020 edition of the report says that Africa’s economic growth that remained stable in 2019 at 3.4 percent is on course to pick up to 3.9 percent in 2020 and 4.1 percent in 2021.
Overall, the forecast describes the continent’s growth fundamentals as improved, driven by a gradual shift toward investments and net exports, and away from private consumption.
RELATED: Technology to Improve Access to Education in Africa Developed
East Africa is presented as having maintained its lead as the continent’s fastest-growing region, with average growth estimated at 5.0 percent in 2019; North Africa as the second fastest, at 4.1 percent, and West Africa’s growth rising to 3.7 percent in 2019, up from 3.4 percent in 2018.
While Central Africa grew at 3.2 percent in 2019, up from 2.7 percent in 2018, AEO shows that Southern Africa’s growth slowed considerably over the same period, from 1.2 percent to 0.7 percent, dragged down by what it describes as devastating Idai and Kenneth cyclones.