Renewal of planning for Africa’s industrial development: background paper for a side event

Abstract

Insofar as planning is crucial to meeting the prerequisites for industrial development in Africa, it is equally paramount to ensuring that industrial development is inclusive and sustainable. In effect, industrialization and structural transformation can turn out to be non-inclusive as suggested by recent experiences in emerging countries such as China and the Republic of Korea, where remarkable economic growth went hand-in-hand with rising inequality. This can be exacerbated by poor quality of governance, institutions and economic management; a situation which remains a challenge in a number of African countries.