Addis Ababa — The Economic Commission for Africa organized, Sunday 3 April in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), a high level meeting on macroeconomic frameworks and their role in the structural transformation of African countries.
This event was held on the margins of the African Development Week and directed by a high level panel directed by ECA Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes and the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo Mr. Augustin Matata Ponyo. This debate was an opportunity to put forward the key role of structural transformation in strengthening and consolidating economic growth and making it both sustainable and inclusive.
This event was also an opportunity for the ECA to launch its report on "Macroeconomic Policy and Structural Transformation of African Economies".
There is a tendency for Africa to grow rapidly, and yet, to transform slowly, explained Mr. Lopes in his opening speech: "Currently, the majority of African countries are still characterized by narrow, commodity dependent economies, without significant changes in their socio-economic structure, externally driven demand failing to generate the kind of transformation we are looking for", he said.
"In order to sustain positive social and economic outcomes from recent growth, African countries must revisit the current development model and improve of their structural transformation processes", he added.
"The current global context appeals to us greatly, as leaders, to strive to equip our economies with a proper shield against exogenous shocks, otherwise these shocks could reverse Africa's performances of the past few years" said Mr Matata Ponyo.
The RDC PM stressed that reforms are a matter of survival for African nations. He also gave a detailed presentation on the policies carried out in his country. Through macroeconomic stability and reforms, RDC managed to reduce its inflation rate from 10,000% in 1994 to 0.8% in 2015 and restore its domestic output by increasing it from -14% in 1993 to 9.5% in 2014. RDC became the third African FDI destination in 2014 and was expected, in September 2015, to achieve a 7,7% growth rate.
Structural transformation is characterized by an increase in productivity, industrial production and GDP, accompanied by rural/urban shifts and demographic transition. Structural transformation can be achieved through a coherent set of policies based on three pillars: human resources, infrastructures and institutions.
For such a transformation to occur, countries would need to optimize the opportunities at hand while addressing persistent development challenges of the continent. They would also need to solve any disconnect between short term objectives and long term development ambitions.
