Governance and Growth in Africa after the Commodities Boom - Foundation Office South Africa
Seminar
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Africa’s impressive annual economic growth rates in the 2000s – around 5 per cent – were in part attributable to better macro-economic management by African governments, as well as sharp rises in commodity prices, underpinned by soaring Chinese demand. With commodity prices in decline, however, projections for African growth are ratcheting down and there is real concern that many African countries not only did not do enough during the “fat” years to reduce their dependence on commodities but also – more worrying – failed to reform their political and economic governance practices as deeply as was assumed.
This High-Level Roundtable will engage in a critical interrogation of the African Rising narrative – particularly its assumptions about deepening democratisation and diversification – and identify key areas of attention for policy makers as African countries grapple with reduced demand for their raw materials, at least in the short term. A pre-circulated discussion monograph – entitled Making Africa Work and authored by Olusegun Obasanjo, Dickie Davis, Jeffrey Herbst and Greg Mills – provides the entry-points for each of the sessions and corresponding themes.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces three big inter-related challenges over the next generation. It will double its population to two billion by 2045. By then more than half of Africans will be living in its cities. And it does not appear that governments have developed adequate capabilities and policies to cope with these massive demographic changes. Properly harnessed and planned for, the huge upsurge in urbanized youth could be a tremendously positive force for change. Without economic growth and jobs, it could prove a political and social catastrophe. Old systems of patronage and muddling through will no longer work because of these population increases. Instead, if leaders want to continue in power, they will have to promote economic growth in a more dynamic manner.
Through rigorous interrogation and discussion on the draft document Making Africa Work, this High-Level Roundtable seeks to identify how Africa can ensure growth beyond commodities and create jobs in the continent.