Continental report highlights important aspects of development

The Africa Competitive Report (ACR) has shed light on the important aspects of development in the region critical in ensuring sustained and shared growth for the continent’s citizens. Launched this week in Kigali, the report urges African governments to harness the region’s resources via stronger integration and into international trade and finance. The report calls for focus on tourism, upgrading managerial skills, women’s entrepreneurship and diversifying products and markets. It also calls for increased women entrepreneurship to lift them from informal, micro, low- growth and low profit areas to ensure economic empowerment. “What is critical is not to increase entrepreneurs per se, but rather to enable women to move into higher value added activities,” a report read in part. The report says African countries would gain much from export diversification and further opening up to regional trade which in turn could help the continent to become more competitive and resilient to external shocks. The director of planning in the ministry of finance, Leonard Rugwabiza, said the country’s challenges are not so different from other African countries. Major challenges in terms of doing business cited in the report include access to finance, tax regulations and tax rates, inadequate supply of infrastructure and inefficient government bureaucracy. It also indicates that the travel and tourism sector would contribute as more jobs as agriculture if fully developed. It adds that an investment worth US$250,000 in the tourism sector would generate 182 full time formal jobs, which is estimated to be 40 percent more than agriculture and 50 percent more than mining. The Report urged African countries to focus on the policies and strategies key for sustained economic recovery and inclusive growth of the continent. Ends

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Continental report highlights important aspects of development