Many unemployed young people are engaged in a variety of economic activities. These may not necessarily be recognised as a form of self employment or informal employment.
South African commercial law courses do not address the question of what norms and procedures govern business relations in indigenous African communities.
The middle class concept in Africa has remained vague and limited to number crunching. The minimum threshold for entering it in monetary terms was critically vulnerable to a setback into poverty.
Zimbabwe has said it will take over all diamond mining operations in the country. But what is needed to maximise revenues isn’t state ownership, but improvements in existing regulatory practices.
Agriculture can only contribute to rural growth and development to the benefit of all if it links with an inclusive and diverse rural non-farm economy.
Nigeria’s economy is indeed under severe strain but sub-Saharn Africa’s most populus nation won’t solve its economic problems via an emergency national confab.
Economic growth is a necessary condition for development. But it can only pass the sufficient condition test if growth translates into high-earning jobs. Ghana’s recent history illustrates this.
Countries like Rwanda have shown that regional integration can enhance growth and reduce poverty. South Sudan should follow its lead in its engagement with the East African Community.
Nobel laureate and Kwame Nkrumah’s economic adviser Arthur Lewis saw Ghana as a testing ground for his ideas on economic development. But he was met with fierce resistance.
Astrid R.N. Haas, London School of Economics and Political Science
To achieve its ambition of becoming a middle income country, Uganda must accelerate the movement of workers from agriculture and the informal sector into modern industries.