Beijing, China 9 April 2024 (ECA) - Poverty is the main hurdle for Africa in attaining sustainable development goals and for an inclusive growth on the continent, says Sweta Saxena, Director, Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
Eliminating poverty, she said has been an international goal for the last 75 years. The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted in 2015 has No Poverty as its number 1 priority (Goal 1). In addition, the World Bank’s raison d'être is No Poverty for countries.
Ms. Saxena was speaking at the 3rd Conference on the Dialogue between Chinese and African Civilizations in Beijing, China under the theme, Inheritance, Sharing, Development: Toward a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future, which she said, underscores the issues that are at the centre of sustainable development.
Ms. Saxena highlighted three things that Africa needs to know about itself to achieve inclusive growth and eliminate poverty:
First, is the need for Africa to know its values – which include its cultures and civilizations and whose power should not be underestimated. Hence, Africa needs to decolonize its mindset and revive its own civilizational and cultural values and chart its own path to prosperity.
Second, she highlighted the need for Africa to know its visionary leaders and establish strong institutions for development. Africa, she said, needs strong leaders who think Africa, breathe Africa and live Africa.
Third, she said that Africa needs to know its worth and realize its own potential. With 1.3 billion people and a large young population, abundant green minerals and natural resources, it can also solve the global climate problem. With a seat at the G20, Africa is able to tell the world how Africa can solve global problems, even those that were not created by Africans.
“Poverty makes poor people tunnel their vision and tend to their immediate needs. This leads them to make bad decisions over a longer horizon and hence, poverty persists,” said Ms. Saxena adding that continuous shortage of money keeps people mired in these shark-like loans and hence, they find it harder to get out of poverty. This is how poverty begets poverty.
She noted that close to 3 billion people experience these conditions on a daily basis. Globally, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water services, 3.5 billion lacked safely managed sanitation services, and 2.0 billion lacked basic hygiene services in 2022.
“People are so far below the poverty line that it is hard to bring them above the poverty line without being pushed down again when new shocks hit,” she said.
“Every shock leads to a permanent fall in output; poor countries get hit by shocks more frequently and each time they are pushed further back from their growth potential.”
According to the ECA Director, increase in inequality, beyond a certain threshold, encourages rent-seeking and lowers economic growth. It deprives the poor of the ability to stay healthy, acquire education and accumulate skills. Inequalities also generate political and economic instability that reduce investment and impede social cohesion required to adjust to shocks and sustain economic growth.
She said that relying too much on economic growth – while it may increase the size of the pie, doesn’t necessarily guarantee a fair distribution.
The COVID-19 pandemic, she said laid bare the inequities that exist. She referenced China’s President Xi Jinping who announced the Common Prosperity Agenda in 2021 that aims to strengthen social equality and economic equity and is underpinned by green development. This, said Saxena, offers hope and advice to Africa because “at the current juncture, Africa has all the ingredients for success – 65% of the world’s arable land, 40% of world’s solar irradiation potential, 30% of world’s mineral reserves, 71% of global cobalt production, and 77% of global platinum.”
Issued by:
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Economic Commission for Africa
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