| Macroeconomic Policy and Convergence in Africa : ECA's Contribution Addis Ababa, 16 September 2008 - (ECA) - The Trade, Finance and Economic Development (TFED) division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the University of Pretoria, is organizing a training workshop on “Macroeconomic Policy and Convergence in Southern Africa” in Pretoria, South Africa on 23-26 September 2008. The meeting is a component of a regional technical capacity building project currently being implemented by ECA entitled “ Enhancing the capacity of member States to achieve macroeconomic policy convergence. ” The overall objective of this project is to enhance the capacity of African policymakers to design and implement macroeconomic policies that promote high, stable and pro-poor growth as well as regional macroeconomic convergence. The project also aims at facilitating exchange of experiences on how to design and implement such policies. Macroeconomic convergence is considered to be critically important in the overall mission to promote accelerated and sustained pro-poor growth in Southern Africa . African countries have, on average, sustained historically higher economic growth rates over the last few years. The strong performance is driven mainly by robust global demand and prices of commodities, along with macroeconomic stability, increased capital flows, debt relief and increased growth in non-oil sectors such as agriculture and tourism. At the same time, in addition to the successful implementation of a range of policy reforms aimed at improving the business environment and investment climate in many countries, Africa has also witnessed growing political stability in recent years. However, Africa 's overall economic growth rates still remain volatile and below the levels required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In addition to accelerating growth, Africa thus needs to promote broad-based growth in order to foster employment creation, poverty reduction and social development and ensure that the current growth momentum can be sustained in the future. Accelerating broad-based pro-poor growth requires not only effective national strategies but also the harmonization of policies at the regional level to promote intra-Africa trade as well as international competitiveness and economic transformation. Macroeconomic policy convergence aims to compliment other regional integration measures, including the construction of infrastructure and energy projects. The Pretoria training workshop will survey the status of macroeconomic convergence in the southern Africa sub region in the context of development strategies. To do this, it will provide participants with a review of the relevant analytical frameworks, especially those which are explicitly used to guide policymakers. While the focus is on southern Africa , the training seminar will also review recent international findings in this area. In preparation for the meeting ECA has recruited a consultant (Prof. John Weeks of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) who prepared a policy study on “ Macroeconomic convergence in Southern and Eastern Africa ” as well as training material. The study assesses the state of macroeconomic convergence and its importance for accelerated and sustained pro-poor growth in Eastern and Southern Africa and highlights regional and country-specific experiences. After identifying key constraints, the study also makes recommendations on the way forward to enhance macroeconomic convergence in the two sub-regions and how to most effectively transmit lessons to relevant policy makers. Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service Tel: 251 11 5445098
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