Africa: Private Sector key to Continent’s Growth, Says Report

By NewsfromAfrica 

ARUSHA -- Most African countries have come to recognize the critical role that the private sector can play to help the continent reach its full economic and social potential, according to the 2011 African Development Report of the African Development Bank (AfDB) launched in Arusha.

 Focused on private sector as the engine of Africa’s economic development, the report examines the challenges facing the sector’s development and highlights ways to address these challenges, taking country differences into account.

 “After being hamstrung for decades by difficult political and economic conditions and burdensome government policies, it is now poised to become the main engine of growth for the African continent,” says AfDB president, Donald Kaberuka.  in the report. The report ends with a discussion of the AfDB’s role in support of private sector development in Africa.

“The African Development Bank is committed to addressing the constraints on private sector development.

We believe that private sector development is fundamental for creating inclusive growth through employment creation.

“The private sector is also a provider of essential goods and services to the public, and a key source of the revenues that African countries need to meet their development challenges,” he adds.

 Having promoted development of the sector for more than 40 years, the AfDB has made private sector development one of the four priorities of its Medium Term Strategy (MTS) for 2008-12, along with infrastructure, governance, and higher education.

In order to generate a greater developmental impact, the AfDB is integrating private sector development across all its operations with threefold objectives.