With sub-Saharan Africa seeing its lowest growth rate in two decades amid low commodity prices, the World Bank is urging the continent to seize the moment to make change. Policy reform and economic diversification is the formula the bank hopes can help propel Africa out of its downward turn.
There are a growing number of reasons to be hopeful. Commodity and oil exporting countries such as Angola and Nigeria were hit hard by the fall in global commodity prices. Yet other noncommodity exporters including Tanzania, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal continue to record improved economic growth.
“The theme of urgency and accelerating the pace is critical in what we will be doing,” Makhtar Diop, World Bank's vice president for Africa, told Devex, explaining the institution’s priorities and approach to eliminate poverty from the continent.
About the author
Jennifer Piettedisgeneration
Jennifer Ehidiamen is a Nigerian writer who is passionate about communications and journalism. She has worked as a reporter and communications consultant for different organizations in Nigeria and overseas. She has an undergraduate degree in mass communication from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, and M.A. in business and economics from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, New York. In 2014, she founded Rural Reporters (www.ruralreporters.com) with the goal of amplifying underreported news and issues affecting rural communities.
