Development effectiveness report says Africa on right path, urges partners to deliver on aid promises

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Development effectiveness report says Africa on right path, urges partners to deliver on aid promises

ECA Press Release 119/2012

Addis Ababa, 14 July 2012 (ECA) – Africa made major improvements in the areas of sustainable economic growth, good governance, financing for its own development and investing in its peoples, but regional governments, partners and the international community need to deliver fully on their promises, according to a new report issued here today.

The 2012 Report of the Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness (MRDE) was presented to the 27^th Meeting of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC).in Addis Ababa by Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, the United Nations Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

According to the Information and Communication Service of ECA, the report says satisfactory progress had been made in each of the areas commissioned by the HSGOC, although attention needs to be paid to tackling the threat of climate change It predicts that the African economy is expected to grow by 5.6 % in 2012 and 5.3% in 2013.

“This return to the trajectory of growth since the turn of the century is due to gradual recovery from the Great Recession and the popular uprisings in North Africa”, it explains.

It says Africa now exports as much to emerging markets as to its traditional trading partners, “as a result of which it was partly sheltered from the global economic slowdown”, it adds.

It praises Africa for progress in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in the investments it has made on its people.

“Our continent continues to record notable progress on the MDGs as we have achieved 60% of progress related to gender parity, primary school completion, stemming the HIV/AIDS pandemic; and access to water. Some other sectors including child and maternal mortality, and access to sanitation are not keeping up to pace”, Mr. Janneh reported.

In the area of good governance, the report observes a general improvement in the quality of elections, successful reversals of unconstitutional changes of government, and the political changes in North Africa.

“The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, now in force, represents a major commitment to improving and monitoring governance in Africa”, it says adding that “more remains to be done to ensure that elections are universally free and fair, and to improve other indicators of political governance.”

African governments have effectively started to pay due attention to domestic resource mobilization which is now the major source of financing for development, reaching an all-time high of USD 520 billion in 2011.

“Remittances registered a three-fold increase over a decade to reach USD 41.6 billion in 2011, while Official Development Assistance (ODA) increased to about USD 50 billion in 2011.

Official Development Assistance could rise to USD 81 billion by 2015 if Gleneagles commitments are to be met in full, according to projections cited by the review.

“However, in addition to legal capital outflows, Africa has also experienced large illicit outflows, estimated to be on average of USD 50 billion a year over the last decade”, the review notes.

The review urges African countries maintain the momentum of political and economic reforms; deepen the process of regional integration; continue to mobilize domestic resources; and implement key regional treaties, conventions, protocols, and charters.

It also calls on development partners are invited to deepen co-operation in key areas of economic governance; resist protectionist pressures and set out clear timetables to deliver on ODA promises; and ensure Africa’s enhanced participation in global governance.

Finally, the report appeals to the wider international community to put an international investment strategy in place to facilitate Africa’s transition to the green economy and build on the Busan Declaration on Development Effectiveness to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

It also says the international community should design the post-2015 framework that will enable African countries to achieve sustained economic and social progress; and support the work of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa in order to arrest the debilitating problem of illicit financial flows from the continent.

The Report of the Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness is both an exercise in “mutual accountability” - assessing what has been done to deliver on commitments to Africa's development, and a review of “development effectiveness” - assessing what results have been achieved.

The 2012 report is the 5^th in the series is structured around four broad policy areas: sustainable economic growth; investing in people; good governance; and financing for development and is also intended to be of practical use to political leaders in looking forward to the key policy challenges ahead.

The review is undertaken jointly by task teams from the Economic Commission for Africa and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and in close consultation with the NEPAD Secretariat.

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3/24/2014 Article - Development effectiveness report says Africa on right path, urges partners to deliver on aid promises

http://www1.uneca.org/ArticleDetail/tabid/3018/ArticleId/1593/Development-effectiveness-report-says-Africa-on-right-path-urges-partners-to-deliver-on-aid-pro… 2/2

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Issued by:

ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001

Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251-11-551 03 65 E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.uneca.org

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