Raising Growth and Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa's long-term growth performance will need to improve significantly for the region to visibly reduce poverty and raise the standard of living to an acceptable level. Appropriate actions will also be needed to ensure that an adequate share of the growing income is devoted to reducing poverty. The key policy question for these countries and their development partners is how to spur economic growth. Empirical studies suggest that the contributions to growth of physical investment and total factor productivity in sub-Saharan Africa have been low in comparison with other regions and have declined over time. These trends have reflected inefficiencies in resource allocation, poor delivery of public goods, notably health care and education; and the high risk of doing business in many parts of the region. Moreover, although the labor force has expanded rapidly, its productivity has remained relatively low because of generally poor standards of health and education.