Sub-Saharan African

growth rates catching up with rest of world

"Over the past decade, Africa has recorded an average growth rate of 5.4 percent which is at par with the rest of the world," said Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank vice-president for Africa.

"The ability to support, sustain and in fact diversify the sources of these growth indicators would be critical not to Africa's capacity to meet (UN poverty targets) but also to becoming an exciting investment destination for global capital."

The continent's overall economic performance was helped in large part by the rise in revenue from oil exporters such as Equatorial Guinea which saw Gross Domestic Product grow by 30.8 percent between 1996 and 2005, while Angola saw a rise of 8.5 percent during the same period.
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While resource-rich countries were benefitting from a rise in global prices, countries that were not blessed with big reserves were also peforming well.

"Leading the way are the oil and mineral exporters, thanks to high prices," said Page. "But 18 non-mineral economies, with 36 percent of sub-Saharan people, have also been doing well."