Zuma: Africa upbeat despite economic crisis

(Image: GCIS)

Speaking at the 26th NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee on Saturday, Zuma said Africa has recorded high growth levels and has become a prime focus in the world.

The recent economic forecast from the IMF indicates that the economy of the African continent will grow by over 5% on average in the next two years, he said, adding that economists from all over the world predict that Africa is going to be the next growth area in the world after Asia.

"The economic decline of the developed North demonstrates that we have to increasingly trade among ourselves and other countries in the South.

Challenges

"We all know that efforts to accelerate the development and structural transformation of African economies are hindered by very substantial obstacles, particularly those related to finance and infrastructure as well as governance, and human capital.

"But we should not wait until all of these obstacles are resolved to create productive jobs.

Other economies managed to expand production and exports while still grappling with the same sorts of constraints currently observed in Sub-Saharan Africa," he said.

He added that traditional models of financing and delivering infrastructure must give way to new models and different ways of financing infrastructure, with a particular focus on Public Private Partnerships must also be looked at.

"This principle is the foundational platforms for any sound public infrastructure project involving private sector participation.