Kaapanda said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana, on Friday at the launch of the 2009 African Economic Outlook report.
The report covers 47 African countries, and includes a special chapter on innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) in Africa.
Kaapanda said the report focuses primarily on an analysis of network infrastructure by surveying the ICT infrastructure sector, and its contribution to innovation in Africa.
“Despite low penetration rates of new technologies, innovative applications of ICT have been proliferating to areas such as e-banking, e-payments, e-agriculture, e-trade, e-government and e-education.
“Many of these tools are helping to shape an improved business environment by contributing to market development, overcoming traditional infrastructure constraints and reducing business costs,” he said.
It has been established that sub-Saharan African countries on average have the lowest Internet penetration rate in the world, Kaapanda said.
He added that it has furthermore been established that international backbone infrastructure to connect Africa to the rest of the world is under construction, and will soon be operational.
Governments simply have to play a more active role in attracting inland network investment and regulating prices in order to increase ICT utilisation in Africa.
African governments have indeed been actively involved in the construction of various sub-marine cable systems such as the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) and West African Cable System (WACS) to improve international connectivity, and ensure adequate broadband connectivity throughout the continent.
The report finds the region gravely affected by the global economic downturn, following half a decade of above 5 percent growth.
The region now expects only 2.8 percent in 2009, less than half of the 5.7 percent expected before the crisis.
The report anticipates growth rebounding to 4.5 percent in 2010.
However, growth in oil-exporting countries is expected to fall to 2.4 percent in 2009, compared to 3.3 percent for the net oil importers.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Nampa
Quelle/Source: New Era, 27.07.2009
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