Indeed, the countries that have done the most in the way of reform including in politics and governance are those with the highest growth. This has fueled a new optimism both in Africa and among those who support Africa. Africa is proving that it can take charge of its own development and tackle the challenges confronting it. Those challenges remain daunting. They range from the natural obstacles of geography to man-made situations of conflict.
Poverty is still a fact of life for hundreds of millions.
Promoting faster economic growth Economic growth in Africa remains too low. Despite the impressive recent gains, growth in output still barely exceeds growth in population. While most of Africa did not suffer directly from the East Asian crisis, growth did slow appreciably last year. In many African countries, income per head is no higher now than it was at independence 20 or 30 years ago. This means that the overall number of poor people is growing every year.