Africa's economic leaders head for Mozambique

Finance ministers from across Africa meet in Mozambique Wednesday for the annual meeting of the African Development Bank amid warnings the continent faces grave dangers from rocketing food and oil prices.

Dozens of finance ministers and central bankers are expected among the more than 1,500 delegates attending the two-day meeting in the Mozambican capital Maputo.
In a report entitled Africa Economic Outlook, the African Development Bank has warned that a near doubling of prices of some staple food crops in recent months had serious implications for Africa. "Besides the rising price of crude oil, in the last three months since January 2008, prices of some major food crops have nearly doubled," said the report.
The price of rice increased from 373 dollars (242 euros) per tonne to 760 dollars while corn rose from 171 dollars per tonne to 220 dollars. "These large and sudden price increases have now started to have severe implications in many African countries," the report said.
The official themes of this year's meeting include the challenges of urbanisation and the effectiveness of development aid while the ADB will also present its annual report. But the issues of food and the price of crude oil, which hit a new record above 126 dollars on Monday, are likely to dominate discussions in the corridors. Record oil prices benefit producer countries on the continent but even they are forced to import more expensive refined products like petrol because of a lack of domestic refining capacity.
The head of the ADB, Donald Kaberuka, warned at the beginning of the month that 135 million Africans could be affected by a food crisis linked to the sharp increase in prices. Kaberuka announced measures for the agricultural sector, including a fund of one billion dollars to help keep prices down. For now, high energy and food prices do not seem to have an impact on economic growth for African countries.