Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 9, 2016 – (ECA) - The ECA will on Friday host an inception meeting to discuss preparations for the 2018 edition of the Economic Report on Africa (ERA) which seeks to capture the ECA’s contribution to the developmental thinking that has shaped Africa’s economic progress over the years as well as identify major trends and issues that the organisation may engage in as the continent continues to move ahead.
The 2018 edition of the ERA will mark the diamond jubilee of the ECA and it builds on previous ECA thoughts captured in various editions of flagship and non-recurrent publications in each area of ECA’s programmes of work through time.
The report will be structured in two parts.
The first section will discuss recent developments in the world economy and their implications for Africa, and examine recent trends and policy challenges in economic and social development on the continent.
It will also provide forecasts on Africa’s medium-term economic outlook with the associated downside risk analysis and examine the social trends of relevance for growth and structural transformation in the continent.
The second part of the report will address a number of thematic issues in six chapters, including the ECA’s contribution to Thinking on Africa’s development since independence; the ECA’s contribution to Africa’s institutional landscape and capacity development on the continent; ECA’s perspectives on Governance, that is political, economic and corporate, development planning and sustainable development (economic, social and environmental); regional integration and global partnerships; Statistics and Africa’s social-economic development narrative, and the Africa of the Future.
Brainstorming sessions during the meeting will be moderated by selected ECA Directors to ensure deep and comprehensive discussions.
Participants will include invited pan-African development thinkers and advocates as well as current and former ECA staff members.
The final report will be launched at the 2018 African Union/ECA Joint Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.