Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Executive Summary -- Abbreviations -- 1 Facing the Challenges of African Growth: Opportunities, Constraints, and Strategic Directions -- Poverty in Africa: Largely a Growth Challenge -- Breaking Out of the Low-Growth Syndrome-A Daunting Task but a Real Possibility -- The Report: An Overview -- Notes -- 2 Africa's Long-Term Growth Experience in a Global Perspective -- Evolution -- Benchmarking against Asian Economies -- Diversity across Africa -- Sectoral Composition -- Conclusions -- Notes -- 3 Explaining the African Growth Record: What Appears to Matter Most -- Sources of Economic Growth: Lessons from Growth Accounting -- Doing Business in Africa: The Investment Climate-Transaction Costs, Risk, Capacity -- Indigenous Entrepreneurs and Minority-Owned Firms -- Benchmarking of Growth Conditions in African Countries -- Conclusions -- Notes -- 4 Constraints to Growth -- Africa's Unfavorable Endowments: A Constraint to Growth but Not a Predicament -- Natural Resources-Curse and Potential -- Risks and Uncertainty -- Weak Institutional Capacity -- The Financial Sector as a Constraint to Growth -- Low Savings -- Conclusions -- Notes -- 5 Tackling the Challenges of African Growth -- Lessons from a Half-Century of Africa's Growth Experience -- Changing Contexts and Emerging Opportunities -- The Changing International Economic Environment-New Opportunities and New Challenges -- Opportunities and Options for Growth Strategies -- Key Strategic Challenges -- Mobilizing Resources for Growth -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Appendix: Empirical Analysis of Influential Factors of Growth in Africa -- Estimating the Growth Model -- Influential Factors of Growth and Data -- Results -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Boxes -- 2.1 Different Development Strategies-Very Different Results: Mauritius versus Côte d'Ivoire.

2.2 Contrasting Growth Paths of Two Landlocked, Resource-Rich Countries: Botswana and Zambia -- 4.1 The Demographic Transition and Family Planning in Ethiopia -- 4.2 Country Studies -- 5.1 Technology, Adaptation, and Exports: How Some Developing Countries Got It Right -- 5.2 ICT Helping to Improve Financial Services in Africa -- 5.3 Banking Sector and Savings Mobilization in Zambia -- 5.4 Some Initiatives to Expand Access and Encourage Enhanced Savings -- Figures -- 1.1 Comparative Per Capita Income Growth Paths: Sub-Saharan Africa versus Other Regions -- 1.2 Per Capita Incomes in 2004 Relative to 1960 -- 1.3 Similar Opportunities, Different Strategies, Different Results -- 1.4 Analytical Framework of the Growth Model -- 2.1 Smoothed Average Growth in Real GDP Per Capita: Sub-Saharan Africa and Other Regions -- 2.2 Average Growth Rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Income Categories -- 2.3 Average Per Capita Growth Rates: Global Distribution -- 2.4 Smoothed Average Growth in Real GDP Per Capita: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and East Asia and Pacific -- 2.5 GDP Per Capita Index-Sub-Saharan Africa and Other Regions, 1960-2004 -- 2.6 Smoothed Average Growth in Real GDP Per Capita: Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, and Mauritius -- 2.7 Growth Rates and Demographic Indicators, by Size -- 2.8 Sub-Saharan Africa's Smoothed Average Growth in Real GDP Per Capita by Opportunity Groups -- 2.9 Growth Experience of Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa -- 3.1 Energy Costs and Power Outages -- 3.2 Shares of Firms Owning Generators -- 3.3 Days to Clear Imports and Exports -- 3.4 Inspections and Management Time Spent Dealing with Regulations -- 3.5 Crime, Unofficial Payments, and Securing of Contracts -- 3.6 Cost Structures, Firm-Level Average by Country -- 3.7 Net and Gross Total Factor Productivity, Adjusted Prices.

3.8 Average Current Size of African Firms by University Education -- 3.9 Percentage of Firms Receiving Credit -- 3.10 Regression-Based Decomposition of Periodical Growth Rates, SSA, 1960-74 -- 3.11 Regression-Based Decomposition of Periodical Growth Rates, SSA, 1975-94 -- 3.12 Regression-Based Decomposition of Periodical Growth Rates, SSA, 1995-2004 -- 3.13 Evolution of Contribution of Policy -- 3.14 Evolution of Contribution of Shocks -- 4.1 Sub-Saharan Africa Geographical Distribution -- 4.2 Demographic Transition Information: Rate of Natural Increase -- 4.3 HIV Prevalence in Adults in Africa, 2005 -- 4.4 Age Distribution of Deaths in Southern Africa -- 4.5 SSA's Smoothed Average Growth in Real GDP Per Capita, by Opportunity Group -- 4.6 Inflation Trends: Regional Comparisons, 1971-2004 -- 4.7 Regional Inflation, 1971-2004 -- 4.8 Countries in Civil War -- 4.9 Financial Development in SSA -- 4.10 Median Spread: A Regional Comparison -- 4.11 Access to Finance: Africa Relative to Other Regions -- 4.12 Access to Financial Capital -- 4.13 Portfolio Allocation Trends -- 4.14 Saving Trends: Regional Comparison by Decade -- 4.15 Saving Trends in SSA, 1980-2004 -- 4.16 Savings Decomposition -- 5.1 Share of Countries with Competitively Elected Chief Executives -- 5.2 World Trade Trends: Composition of Exports, 1981-2001 -- 5.3 Developing Countries' Share of Exports, 1981-2001 -- 5.4 The Global Competitiveness Index: Impact of Investment in ICT -- 5.5 Education Investment Impact on Competitiveness -- A.1 Smoothed Average Life Expectancy at Birth -- A.2 Demographic Indicators -- A.3 Policy Variables over Time -- A.4 Telephone Lines -- Tables -- 1.1 Regional Growth Comparisons -- 2.1 Growth and Selected Indicators in African Countries, Categorized by Opportunity Groups -- 2.2 Predicted Shares of Economic Structure at Selected Levels of Income Per Capita.

3.1 Sources of Growth, by Regions, 1960-2003 -- 3.2 Sources of Growth, Africa, 1960-2003 -- 3.3 Productivity of Investment-Returns -- 3.4 Contributions of Individual Components of Drivers of Growth toward Explaining Deviation of SSA's Predicted Growth Relative to the Sample Mean, EAP, and SAR, 1960-2004 -- 3.5 Evolution of Individual Contributions of Drivers of Growth toward Explaining Deviation of SSA's Predicted Growth Relative to the Sample Mean, EAP, and SAR, by Periods -- 3.6 Contributions of Various Factors Influencing Growth at the Country Level -- 3.7 Evolution of Contribution to Deviation from Sample Mean at the Country Level -- 4.1 Interregional Comparison of Geographical and Sovereign Fragmentation Indicators -- 4.2 Age Dependency Ratios -- 4.3 Socioeconomic Indicators, 2004 -- 4.4 Fiscal Policy Indicators for Selected Regions -- 4.5 Battle Deaths versus Total War Deaths in Selected African Conflicts -- 4.6 Indicators of Financial Development: A Regional Comparison -- A.1 Regression Results.