40. Under this agenda item, the Committee considered document ECA/SRDC/SA/ICE/2001/05, entitled "Report on Economic and Social Conditions in Southern Africa, 2000". The report showed continued economic growth in 2000 with negative growth rate recorded only in Zimbabwe, which is estimated at -4 per cent. This decline significantly affected aggregate GDP of the subregion, which grew by 3.3 per cent in 2000 was mainly due to progressive implementation of macroeconomic policies in the subregion, strong business investment, particularly in transport and telecommunications, as well as favourable weather conditions. GDP rose at a sharply higher pace than in 1999 in some countries, including: Angola, Mauritius, South Africa and Zambia. In other countries, GDP growth rate was either maintained or increased only marginally compared to 1999.

41. Inflation rates remained in the double digit in some countries, with average rate higher in 2000 than in 1999. In Zimbabwe, for example, inflation is estimated to have reached about 60 per cent in 2000 compared to 58.5 per cent in 1999, while in Mozambique average inflation rate in 2000 stood at 12 per cent, compared to 4.8 per cent in 1999. High inflation rates in these two countries is the consequence of civil unrest and the devastating floods of February 2000, respectively. On the other hand, annual inflation decreased significantly in two countries, Malawi and Mauritius. In the former, average inflation is estimated to have dropped from 44.8 per cent in 1999 to 28.4 per cent in 2000, while the corresponding figures for the latter are 6.9 and 4.6 per cent, respectively.

42. The report showed that HIV/AIDS remained a major cross-cutting concern for Southern African countries. Figures for 1999, the last year for which data is available, indicate that 12 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 11 countries of Southern Africa, with the cumulative number of deaths from AIDS being estimated at 973,700 for the same period.

43. Although no new armed conflict emerged in the sub-region, the impact of continuing war in Angola contributed to poor diversification of economic activities away from petrol and the subsequent paralysis effect on economic and social activities throughout the country. In addition, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo continued to impose negative economic and social impact and increase poverty in neighbouring countries, particularly Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

44. Continued improvements in the economic performance of the subregion, depends on the continued implementation of economic reform programmes and deepening market-based private sector driven policies.

45. The Committee noted with concern that issues of environment, manufacturing industry, exchange rates and monetary policies as well as the impact of HIV/AIDS in the economy were not covered in the report. It was also pointed out that, unlike in the past, the report did not include a special section on a major development issue. In this regard, the meeting recommended that the next report should contain such a special section, possibly on environmental issues or on the economic impact of HIV/AIDS.

46. Regarding the issue of the economic impact of HIV/AIDS, the Secretariat informed the meeting that a special study had already been undertaken at ECA Headquarters on the impact of HIV/AIDS in Education for Eastern and Southern Africa and that the study will be made available to member States.

47. Furthermore, inaccuracies and inconsistencies with respect to the data and information provided in the report were pointed out. The Secretariat explained that since this was a draft report, all corrections would be made in the final report. The meeting took note of the report.