">The right African policy framework, including industrial policies that will generate the skilled jobs and productivity gains needed for the structural transformation of economies, could harness the continent’s rapid urban transition to drive industrial development, the United Nations (UN) said.
">“African urbanisation has not been driven by improving agricultural productivity or increased industrial output, as has been the case elsewhere,” said Giovanie Biha, the deputy executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
">Biha made her comments on Thursday during the launch of the 2017 Economic Report on Africa by the ECA Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa in Kigali (SRO-EA).
">“On the contrary,” she added, “it has been dominated by the expansion of the informal sector – often services”.
">Pointing out that by 2035, half of the continent’s population would be urban, compared to just one third in 1990, she said industrialisation and urbanisation provided an opportunity to discuss related challenges on the continent, and in Eastern Africa in particular.
">In most of the 14 countries covered by the Sub-Regional Office, the share of the manufacturing sector has been stagnant or declining over the past ten years while the services sector has expanded rapidly.
">Despite a weak structural transformation process, the long-term growth outlook remains promising in Eastern Africa.
">The ECA report says the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in 2017 is estimated to remain at the 2016 level of 5.6% – down from the exceptional performance of the past five years.
">Ethiopia’s average annual growth rate is 9.5% and Rwanda’s 7.2 % between 2012 and 2016, is well above the African continent average of 3.1% in 2017.
">Andrew Mold, acting director of the SRO-EA, highlighted some growth catalysts, such as massive investments in infrastructure or service sectors and increased investments have started to stretch budgets and weaken structural constraints, such as exchange rate volatility.
