Economic Report on Africa 2005: Job creation lies at the heart of the poverty battle

The Economic Report on Africa 2005 (ERA 2005 http://www.uneca.org), ECA’s flagship publication, this year is entitled ''Meeting the Challenges of Unemployment and Poverty in
Africa”. It analyses the vicious cycle of inadequate economic performance and high unemployment. Despite showing signs of rapid change, at a record 5.2 percent growth in 2005,
Africa’s economy is dampened by record unemployment and higher rates of poverty than ever before. The implication is that poverty has been unresponsive to economic growth. ''As long as people are kept from participating in the economy as productive agents, people will continue to benefit only sparsely to whatever growth is actually achieved,” said Augustin Fosu, the director of ECA’s Economic and Social Policy Division which prepared the report. And the record growth rate is still not enough. For a significant reduction in poverty, it must climb still further to over 7 percent a year on average. Email:
ecainfo@uneca.org