African Economic Outlook 2010

African Economic Outlook 2010 focuses on public resource mobilisation and aid in Africa, presenting a comprehensive review of best practices in tax administration, policies and multilateral agreements, including recommendations for meeting future challenges. The role that aid should play to help African countries mobilise their public resources to meet their development goals is also discussed.

This year’s Outlook reviews recent economic, social and political developments and the short-term likely evolution of 50 African countries. The African Economic Outlook is drawn from a country-by-country analysis based on a unique common framework. This includes a forecasting exercise for 2010 to 2012 using a simple macroeconomic model, together with an analysis of the social and political context. Its overview chapter provides a comparative synthesis of African country prospects which places the evolution of African economies in the world economic context. A statistical appendix completes the volume.



Since 2002, the annual African Economic Outlook has been charting the progress of the continent’s economies. Africa was propelled by seven years of strong growth from 2002 to 2008, only to be stopped in its tracks by the world’s deepest and most widespread recession in half a century. This edition finds the continent struggling to get back on its feet and identify new, more crisis-resilient practices for moving forward. In this context, decision makers in African and OECD countries, both in the public and private sectors, will find this year's analysis of particular interest for their activities. The African Economic Outlook project is generously supported by the European Development Fund. It combines the expertise accumulated by the OECD – which produces the OECD Economic Outlook twice yearly – with the knowledge of the AfDB, UNECA and a network of African research institutions on African economies. Part I of this year’s African Economic Outlook analyses Africa’s macroeconomic and structural developments. It examines how the African continent, its regions and countries, have weathered the global crisis and forecasts economic developments in 2010 and 2011. It describes changes in external financial flows and discusses trade policies and measures to foster regional integration and also reports on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and discusses political and economic governance developments. Part II explores how public resources can be better mobilised for development through more effective, more efficient and fairer taxation. This issue is particularly important given the uncertainties about future export revenues and unstable and unpredictable inflows of Foreign Direct Investment and Official Development Aid.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary

Part One: Overview
Macroeconomic Situation and Prospects
External Financial Flows to Africa
Trade Policies and Regional Integration in Africa
Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals
Political and Economic Governance


Part Two: Public Resource Mobilisation and Aid in Africa
What is Public Resource Mobilisation, and Why Does It Matter?
The State of Public Resource Mobilisation in Africa
Challenges for African Policy Makers
Policy Options

Part Three: Country Notes

Part Four: Statistical Annex