* Euro area crisis seen as key risk
* Ensuring job creation also a challenge
(Rewrites throughout)
By Duncan Miriri
ARUSHA, Tanzania, May 28 (Reuters) – Africa’s robust 4.5
percent economic growth forecast for 2012 should not prompt
premature celebration, the African Development Bank (AfDB)
cautioned on Monday, citing the festering euro zone crisis and
chronic youth joblessness.
Ranked as the poorest continent in the world, Africa has
posted strong growth rates in recent years, second only to Asia,
drawing rising inward investment and giving rise to talk of its
economic resilience, accompanied by much self-congratulation
among officials.
“I’ll be cautioning against excessive exuberance,” Donald
Kaberuka, AfDB president said at the launch of its African
Economic Outlook, at the start of the bank’s annual meeting.
The AfDB’s forecast for 2012 outpaces the 3.4 percent growth
rate posted in 2011, after the Arab spring in North Africa cut
the northern region’s growth in economic output to 0.5 percent.
In contrast, sub-Saharan Africa grew by more than 5 percent,
with the exception of South Africa, the continent’s most
advanced economy, which expanded output by 3.1 percent.
The euro zone and other rich nations would take some time to
resolve the issues bedevilling their economies, Kaberuka said.
Continued…
