Low SADC growth rate

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) economic growth rate lags behind the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, says a report by the South Africa Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). The SADC Barometer, a donor-funded SAIIA publication, noted that regional indicators showed that between 1992 and 2002 only two SADC countries - Seychelles and Angola - had managed to improve their ranking in the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI takes into account adult literacy rates, life expectancy at birth and annual gross domestic product when awarding the score. Despite relative political and economic stability, countries like South Africa and Botswana actually fell in their HDI rankings. "In addition, SADC GDP [gross domestic product] annual average growth rate dropped from 3.1 percent in 2000 to 1.95 percent in 2001. SADC's economic growth rate thus lags behind that of sub-Saharan Africa, which increased from 3.5 percent in 2000 to 3.7 percent in 2001," the SADC Barometer said. "To reach the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to reduce the number of people living in absolute poverty by half by 2015, SADC needs to increase its growth rate to the minimum target of 6 percent [to] 7 percent a year," the publication added.