‘Growth Must Be Visible, Equitable, Felt In Lives Of People’

The African Development Bank’s President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that growth must be visible, equitable and felt in the lives of people.
Speaking at the unveiling of the bank’s flagship economic report recently, Adesina said Africa’s economies are growing strongly, but growth alone cannot meet the needs of the continent’s poorest citizens, because “nobody eats GDP.”
The 2020 African Economic Outlook (AEO) showed that the continent’s economies are growing well, higher than the global average.
The report projected a steady rise in growth in Africa from 3.4 per cent in 2019 to 3.9 per cent in 2020 and 4.1 per cent in 2021.
According to the report, these figures do not tell the whole story.
Across the continent, the poor are not seeing enough of the benefits of robust growth.
Relatively, few African countries posted significant declines in extreme poverty and inequality, which remain higher than in other regions of the world.
Inclusive growth occurred in only 18 of 48 African countries with data, the report revealed.