Economic growth on the African continent reached a brisk 4.5 per cent despite low rates of international investments and setbacks by disease, according to a World Bank report released Monday. Primary school enrollments shot up to 93 per cent in 2004 from 72 per cent in 1990, bringing the continent nearer to reaching millenium development goals, according to the African Development Indicators (ADI) 2006. But there were trouble spots such as Zimbabwe, where political turmoil and soaring inflation led to a negative growth rate of 2.4 percent in 2004 - the only country with a negative growth rate on the continent, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa which carried the report. Such failure however was counterbalanced by successes such as Equatorial Guinea, which recorded a 20.9 percent growth rate for 2004. Senegal, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Uganda, Ghana and Cape Verde have lifted significant percentages of their citizens above the poverty line, the report said. "Africa is today a continent on the move, making tangible progress on delivering better health, education, growth, trade and poverty- reduction outcomes," said Gobind Nankani, the World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region. The continent received only 1.6 per cent of global foreign direct investments in 2004, reflecting the continuing problems for business start ups in Africa and the barriers to export posed by bad roads, inefficient ports and power outages, the report said.
