Downturn in economies due to Iraq war, weather

African countries have seen around US $6 billion shaved off their economies due to war in Iraq and poor weather hitting agriculture, economists said on Wednesday. Patrick Asea, from the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said “extreme uncertainty” over the war and drought had seen overall growth slump by 1.1 percent. “The uncertainty caused by the Iraq war was a major problem,” he said on Wednesday at the launch the ECA's influential Economic Report on Africa 2003. “Economic performance was badly affected by rain-fed agriculture,” he added, saying that a global slowdown had also taken its toll. The report, which covers economic growth for 2002, reveals that growth had slowed from 4.3 percent to 3.2 percent on the impoverished continent. Asea, who heads the Economic and Social Policy Division at the ECA, said Africa had been the victim of a “double-edged sword”, with increased growth in oil exporting countries, but a drop in countries that are net importers of oil. Asea also said “lacklustre growth” in Europe – Africa’s major trading partner - had taken its toll. “Without a major rebound within the European economy, the prospects for Africa’s growth will still always be limited,” he added. Overall growth had been “well below expectations”, he said, with only five countries managing growth above seven percent – the rate needed to achieve UN millennium development goals by 2015. “The poverty situation remains very worrying,” he stressed, warning that in a worst case scenario it could top 400 million by 2015. [See also http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35687]