Africa: Continent Worst Hit By Oil Prices

Posted to the web 17 July 2008 Onalenna Modikwa Malawi's Minister of Economic Planning and Development, Ken Lipenga, has said that Africa is a net food importer importing approximately USD 20 billion worth of food annually so it is the hardest hit by rising oil and food prices. "Transport, energy, water and telecommunication infrastructures in Africa also lag far behind the rest of the world," Lipenga said. It is through these unimpressive prevailing socio-economic conditions of Africa that heads of state and government of the African Union, according to Lipenga, adopted NEPAD as a novel framework for shifting the goalposts of the continent from poverty to prosperity. The G8 summit in 2002 accepted the NEPAD framework as an innovative framework, which provided a platform for renewed partnership between the West and Africa.... [read full story]