Accra — Africa achieved 4.6 per cent growth in 2004, the highest in almost a decade, but this was not enough to arrest growing unemployment and poverty, reports the Addis Ababa-based UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The Commission says that last year's growth was due to a healthier global economy and higher prices for commodities, including oil.
In its annual Economic Report on Africa 2005, released recently and entitled "Meeting the Challenges of Unemployment and Poverty in Africa," ECA says that the region's economic performance has improved significantly since the mid-1990s, when it averaged less than 3 per cent. ECA attributes this to governments' improved economic management, better performance of the agricultural sector and more stable political conditions in many countries.
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