Over 300 Million Africans Live in Extreme Poverty

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 17, 2003

Over 300 Million Africans Live in Extreme Poverty

More than 300 million people are now living in extreme poverty in Africa, according to the newsletter issued in Harare on Sunday.

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More than 300 million people are now living in extreme poverty in Africa, according to the newsletter issued in Harare on Sunday.

The newsletter released by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) based in Harare said that the spread of HIV/AIDSposed a threat to important gains in life expectancy.

It said that the bombing of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11,2001 combined with the global downturn in 2002 had hit Africa particularly hard.

Aid flows to Africa had dropped by about 40 percent over the last decade yet private investment, even in the best governed countries, had not filled this gap.

Some of the challenges for this year were illustrated by the fact that in 2002 the conditions for growth in Africa did not showany significant signs of putting the continent on the path of real growth rate.

The ACBF said African economies needed to grow at seven percent to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

It said official development assistance to sub-Sahara Africa fell from 17.2 billion US dollars in 1990 to 12.3 billion dollars t the end of 1999, and the per capita income fell from 552 dollarsin 1999 to about 474 dollars in 2000.

Across the continent, more than 24.4 million people were living with HIV/AIDS and more than 17 million had died from the pandemic.

It said that the increasing spread of HIV/AIDS, poor aid and foreign investment flows and weak commodity prices remain major threats that were capable of severely undermining the gains from growth on the continent.

The ACBF added that the developed countries had to go beyond increasing aid by opening up their markets to developing countriesand addressing the issue of subsidies to agricultural producers.

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