Experts adopt report calling for increased productivity and competitiveness.

ECA Press Release No. 36/2009

Lusaka, 25 June 2009 (ECA) – Experts called on Southern African governments to adopt innovative ways of increasing productivity and improving business competitiveness.

The call was made in the final report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts meeting of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Southern Africa office, which closed in Lusaka, Zambia on Thursday 25 June.

The experts met on the theme: “Enhancing Domestic Resource Mobilisation: Challenges and Opportunities in Southern Africa.”

Noting that the current global economic crisis was negatively impacting on economies of Southern African countries, experts called on countries to devise nationally specific counter measures to restore growth and protect the vulnerable.

“Member States (should) go beyond tightening monetary policy and adopt innovative ways of increasing productivity and improving business competitiveness,” the report reads in part.

Growth in the sub region is expected to decline to 0.2% in 2009 from 5.2% in 2008.  Many countries, including Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are facing critical shortages in energy supply, affecting the productivity of many firms.  The sub region is planning to invest US$ 40 billion over the next two years on improving energy supply.

The experts called on countries in the sub region to implement the gender and development protocol to which all the Member States are signatory.  “Women in Southern Africa continue to face challenges of systematic poverty and social status that restricts them from full access and control over productive resources,” the report reads in part.

 The meeting also called on ECA to include in its economic report on the sub region, a study of the linkages between economic growth and poverty reduction as this is important in encouraging Member States to incorporate pro-poor measures in economic growth strategies.

The meeting deliberated on the economic and social conditions in the sub region; on measures for mainstreaming regional integration issues in national development plans; on the ECA programme of work for 2010 – 2011; and on the UN System-wide support to the African Union and its NEPAD programme.

Major recommendations adopted covers how Member States can enhance the role of the public sector in domestic resource mobilization; on mobilizing private sector savings and investments; on harnessing wealth of natural resources; and on harnessing resources available in the African Diaspora.

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