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Sub-Saharan Africa
Sustainable economic development
Sustainable, broad-impact economic growth is one of the most important preconditions for poverty reduction and for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015. Pro-poor growth generates employment opportunities for the poorer sections of the population. This gives them a chance to overcome income poverty independently. Some of the most important prerequisites include dismantling barriers to market entry and integrating small, medium-sized and micro enterprises in economic cycles with growth potential.
In the states of Africa, economic development will in future depend largely on investment. Africa is the only region in the world in which investment and savings have declined steadily since 1970. Peace, security and good governance are important if these states are to attract investors.
Many African states must also overcome other major economic problems in future - their dependence on the export of individual raw materials, their tiny share of world trade, their persistently high level of debt and the large number of smouldering internal conflicts.
The promotion of sustainable economic development is one of the priorities of cooperation between Germany and its African partner states. The German government pledges some 200 million euros annually on average for this field and collaborates closely with other donors within the international community.
The guiding principle behind German measures to promote sustainable economic growth is the social and ecological market economy. Programmes focus above all on achieving improved political, legal and social frameworks, on private sector development, achieving broad access to financial services and increased growth and employment in the agricultural sector, in particular by building the processing industries in partner countries.
