African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) will hold its twenty-first Senior Policy Seminar from March 21-22 at Meikles Hotel in Harare Zimbabwe, co-hosted by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Honorable Prof. Mthuli Ncube, Minister for Finance, Zimbabwe will be the Guest of Honour at the official opening of the Seminar.
The welcoming remarks will be by Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, AERC Executive Director, and Dr. John Mangudya, Governor, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will make the opening remarks. Honorable Prof Nucbe will serve as the Chair of the opening session.
Appropriately characterizing and addressing the drivers of fragility is central to reducing the fragility of growth in African economies. This is fundamental to realizing robust, resilient and inclusive growth. According to the World Bank, growth in sub-Saharan Africa is foreseen to rise to 3.4 percent in 2019 and 3.7 percent in 2020-21 (Africa Foresight Report, 2019). However, per capita income growth is expected to remain modest, aggravating sub-Saharan Africa’s development challenges.
“We look forward to robust, high-level discussions around addressing the factors causing fragile growth in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Professor Njuguna Ndung’u, AERC Executive Director.
The Seminar will feature four presentations by thought leaders on the subject of growth fragility, they include:
- Prof. Andrew MacKay of the University of Sussex, United Kingdom, on Anatomy of Fragility and the Fragility of Growth in Africa;
- Prof Alemayehu Geda, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia on Fragility and Macroeconomic Management;
- Dr. Anke Hoeffler, CSAE, University of Oxford, United Kingdom and Dr. Janvier Nkurunziza, UNCTAD, Switzerland on From Fragility to Economic Recovery and Development: Rebuilding the Economy of Inclusive Growth, and
- Prof Nicholas Ngepah, University of Johannesburg, South Africa on Reversing Fragility in African Economies through Inclusive Growth.
AERC Senior Policy Seminars are forums designed specifically to bring together senior policymakers from sub-Saharan African countries to exchange experiences and deliberate on topical issues pertaining to the sustainable development of their economies. Participants in these seminars are drawn from the highest levels of government, including the presidency, ministers, governors of central banks, heads of civil services, permanent secretaries and heads of government agencies and parastatals.
About the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Established in 1988, African Economic Research Consortium is a premier capacity building institution in the advancement of research and training to inform economic policies in sub-Saharan Africa. AERC’s mission rests on two premises: first, that development is more likely to occur where there is sustained sound management of the economy; second, that such management is more likely to happen where there is an active, well-informed cohort of locally-based professional economists to conduct policy-relevant research.
AERC builds that cohort through a programme that has three primary components: research, training and policy outreach. The organization integrates high-quality economic policy research, postgraduate training and policy outreach within a vast network of researchers, universities and policymakers across Africa and beyond. Learn more at www.aercafrica.org, follow us for the latest updates.
