16 Million Africans Made Poor By Meltdown

"As the 19th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa opened Wednesday in Cape Town, South Africa, World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the global economic meltdown had further thrown a staggering 53 million people into poverty around the world. Sixty percent of that figure is in Africa, she said. But despite the painful effects of the economic slowdown, the crisis, according to her, still presented a remarkable opportunity for African countries to fast track growth in their economies...." [AllAfrica/This Day (Nigeria)/Factiva]

Reuters adds that "...earlier reform efforts had enabled to Africa to weather the global financial crisis better than feared, according to the World Bank. 'They've been able to withstand this crisis somewhat better than would have been expected because of those reforms and some of the important changes they had made in running their economies,' Okonjo-Iweala told the WEF...." [Reuters/Factiva]

Xinhua writes that "...Okonjo-Iweala said the impacts of the crisis on Africa are not abstract. She argued that the key issue is how to focus on the opportunity brought by the crisis to position Africa for long-term development. Okonjo-Iweala also stressed the importance of having the voice of African countries on the table...." [Xinhua/Factiva]