ECA Policy Brief - Issue 07

Recent research suggests that African countries require high, inclusive and sustained economic growth in order to make significant progress in creating employment and reducing poverty. Experiences of advanced and emerging economies indicate that massive public and private investments are needed to achieve high, inclusive and sustained economic growth. In this context, one of the challenges facing African countries is how to mobilize sufficient resources to finance domestic investment in priority sectors. Given the current low domestic savings rates of African countries, Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other sources of external capital flows are needed to narrow the region’s financing gaps in the short to medium term.