AEC 2024 renews momentum to lift Africa out of poverty despite global shocks

The 2024 Africa African Economic Conference in Gaborone-Botswana has seen a renewed drive to lift Africans out of poverty.

At current growth trends, close to 9 out of 10 of the world’s extremely poor people will be in Africa by 2030 – the projections from the 2024 African Economic Outlook Report authored by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme in Partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the AfDB, this year’s conference is reflecting on “Securing Africa’s Economic Future Amidst Rising Uncertainty”.

In her opening remarks to welcome the gathering, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Bureau Director for the United Nations Development Programme Ahunna Eziakonwa described the engagement as ‘quite pertinent and very timely’.

She explained that 2024 has been a tumultuous year for countries across Africa, especially with escalating global conflicts, increasing political polarization, the rejection of incumbents in U.S. and European elections, and severe climate volatility. This uncertainty threatens Africa’s development prospects.

“Wars in Ukraine and Palestine have pushed annual global military spending above $2.4 trillion, the highest level since 2009.  This is diverting resources from investment in the Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, the World Bank estimates that the reconstruction of Ukraine and Gaza could cost half a trillion dollars, also crowding out development spending,” Ahunna Eziakonwa stated

However, “Addressing these recurrent uncertainties requires a multifaceted approach”.

This position was shared by Vice President at the African Development Bank, Professor Kevin Chika Urama who delivered a statement a statement at the event, calling for a fundamental re-thinking of the underpinning models of global governance, economic development policy, and new innovations in economic diplomacy and multilateralism.

He argues that this must be done together with home-grown solutions embedded in local realities. Countries need to realise now more than ever, that national development must not be outsourced. Development is a do-it-yourself business while adding that Africa’s prevalent predicaments demand effective collaboration and equal partnerships among development institutions, countries and national governments, the private sector and citizens.

To be sustainable, Professor Urama emphasized that “the development process must be inclusive – proactively harnessing all forms of capital, especially human and natural capital, with a laser focus on beneficiation and value addition”.

Claver Gatete United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA who backed the call to action noted that In spite of the fact that Africa possesses enormous potential with 60% of the world’s solar resources, 600 million Africans for instance still lack access to electricity. This he says points to the financing gap for Africa’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which has surged to US$1.3 trillion annually.

“Compounding this, Africa’s external debt surpassed $1 trillion in 2023, with unsustainable interest payments restricting development financing. The human cost is equally staggering: nearly 476 million Africans live in poverty today, with 149 million falling into this bracket recently due to cascading climate and economic shocks. Yet, despite these trials” Claver Gatete indicated.

The host nation, Botswana which recently carried out a political transition says it is in a hurry to accelerate partnerships with its development partners to champion the African growth agenda.

The country’s newly elected President Duma Gideon Boko who graced the occasion expressed hope that “at the end of this conference you would have reignited the passion, you would have fueled, augmented and deepened democracy at the very least, but that you would also have inspired us to more action geared at lifting our people from poverty and raising our continent to take its rightful place as a leader in the world and not just an emerging frontier”.