New approaches to inducing economic growth in Sub-Saharan African countries

In my nearly 30 years as a World Bank consultant, I have seen many sub-Saharan Africa economies lagging behind Asia and Latin America. Worse, I find that it is usually difficult to get investment projects to work as well as in Africa as in other places.

We try just as hard in Africa. My colleagues and I have traveled extensively through many African countries, including visiting hard-to-reach areas, to understand the ground reality, meet local people and their leaders. But, we still do not get similar results.

Why? I, an economist, keep noticing that many African countries lack some of the extra-economic characteristics that induce economic growth.

The full document is available here: Accelerating poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa