AIDS to slash economic growth

The AIDS crisis will cut South Africa's economic growth, increase inflation and exacerbate the country's shortage of highly skilled labour, South African media reports said on Tuesday. 'Business Day' quoted a new report from the investment company, ING Barings, which said that the epidemic will cut South Africa's annual growth rate by 0.3-0.4 percentage points over the next 15 years. Though the infection rate among highly-skilled labour is only a third of that among the less skilled, it is still enough to cause a shortage of highly-skilled people, 'The Star' newspaper said, quoting the Barings report. Meanwhile, a paper prepared by the World Bank, to be discussed at its meeting next week in Washington with the IMF, said "the epidemic poses the foremost challenge to development in sub-Saharan Africa".