Africa needs a commodity-based industrialization for sustained growth, says ILO

ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) - With a jobless-growth and millions of Africans living in poverty, Africa needs a commodity-based industrialization path as an engine of sustained growth and economic transformation, stated Aeneas C. Chuma, ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, at the 21 Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) Meeting for Southern Africa.

“Commodity-based industrialization underpinned by beneficiation and value addition becomes critical if Africa, and Southern Africa in particular, is to forge ahead”, said the ILO Head for Africa at the conference held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The two-day meeting convened by the UNECA and hosted by the Government of Zimbabwe focussed on accelerating industrialization in Southern Africa through beneficiation and value addition. Throughout the region, despite some progress, there has been limited job creation in sectors contributing most to GDP. Salaries have not followed the exponential growth pattern and youth unemployment remains high in most of countries of the sub region.

“The ILO has developed a holistic approach to sustainable, inclusive and job-rich growth with three main policy levers”, Chuma told senior experts from governments, private sector, academia, international development institutions and civil society organisations.

He particularly emphasized on “pro-employment macroeconomic policies; sectoral and industrial policies that promote growth and productive and decent employment; and labour market policies and institutions, including wage policies and collective bargaining, unemployment benefits and strong employment services to facilitate job placement”.

The UNECA Director for Southern Africa, Said Adejumobi, underscored that industrialisation was a political project which requires an economic strategy while the Senior representative of the Africa Union Commission to Southern Africa, Salif Sada underlined that Africa’s Development Agenda 2063 had singled out value addition and beneficiation as top priorities.

Achieving high-level sustainable and inclusive growth requires Africa meet certain imperatives, including the criticality of industrialization. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 calls for the transformation, growth and industrialisation of African economies through beneficiation and value addition of natural resources.

“Decent work and wealth creation in Africa rely on the ability of our countries to develop industries and production methods that generate jobs, particularly for young Africans across the region”, concluded Aeneas Chapinga Chuma.

The recommendations of this meeting regarding a roadmap and strategy document on industrialization will be presented to the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic development from 25-31 March 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The ICE is a UN statutory annual meeting which brings together experts from Southern Africa and the continent to discuss current pressing issues affecting the social and political economy of the Southern Africa region.