The deputy executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said on Saturday that Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau were among Africa’s ten poorest countries, drawing attention to the decline of the continent’s economy.
“Today, 546 million people live in poverty, which is a 74% increase since 1990,” Hanan Morsy said at the end of the 55th Conference of African Finance, Planning and Economic Development Ministers, which took place this week in Addis Ababa. , and stating that Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau are on the list of ten countries where between 60 and 82% of the population are poor, without giving further details.
“Global shocks are having a ripple effect on the poorest in Africa through inflation reaching 12.3% in 2022, which is much higher than the 6.7% globally,” the economist added.
According to UNECA estimates, African families spend up to 40% of their household income on food products, so the impact of rising food prices has a “more serious effect in Africa, especially on the poorest,” he said.
African countries’ heavy dependence on imports has left the continent vulnerable to external shocks, ministers stressed, according to the conference’s closing communiqué, which said that 39 of the region’s 54 countries are net importers of food products and that, in In In 2021, the continent exported only $5.7 billion (5.3 billion euros) of refined oil and imported $44 billion (almost 41 billion euros), despite producing more than it consumes.
The difficulties caused by the food and energy crises come on top of the lack of fiscal space to take measures that could accelerate the recovery of the continent’s economy, which is expected to grow at less than 4% this year, below population growth. .
“Moving out of low income and wealth levels is made even more difficult by the challenges of climate change, as seen recently with the floods in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique,” reads the statement, which also laments the country’s sovereign debt crisis. . Lusophone country, which “could undermine all the growth of the past 23 years”.
Experts and ministers warned that African countries continue to face declining revenues, rising public debt and shrinking fiscal space, with the debt-to-GDP ratio rising from 57.1% in 2019 to 64.5% last year.
The conference of African ministers had the theme ‘Enhancing Africa’s Recovery and Transformation to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities’.
Source: DN
