Africa: Good and bad news from the bank

This year’s edition of the World Bank publication, African Development Indicators (ADI) 2004, launched last week, depicts a diverse picture of development in Africa, with several countries making remarkable progress and others lagging seriously behind. ADI 2004 presents data for more than 500 indicators of development for 53 countries. Thirteen Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries averaged more than five percent growth for the period 1995-2002, but many others saw their economies contract, usually as a result of severe civil conflict and adverse weather conditions. The region’s economic growth slowed in 2002 to 2.8 percent, slightly down from 2.9 percent in 2001.