Global crisis may slow Africa growth - AfDB chief

TUNIS (Reuters) - World financial turmoil may slow African economic growth due to dampened demand and tougher access to finance, Donald Kaberuka, the head of the African Development Bank said on Tuesday.

Although relatively protected from first round effects of the crisis, Africa could be seriously affected by a weakening of global growth and a reduction in demand for products from emerging countries, he told reporters at its Tunis headquarters.

"This situation, coupled with the adverse effects of escalating oil and food prices, could roll back significant economic growth gains made over the last years," he said.

"Africa has recorded sustained and unprecedented overall growth of about 7 percent over the last decade. This performance is the result of the implementation of macroeconomic and structural reforms. The crisis we are living through today could slow these advances so dearly won," he said.

Louis Kasekende, AfDB chief economist, told Reuters in an interview on Sept 25 that the bank's estimates showed that GDP growth in Africa would average about 5.9 percent over the next two years. African growth was 5.7 percent in 2007.

Since then the global financial crisis has deepened.

Kaberuka added that some middle income African countries had recently started to raise funds on the capital markets, and the crisis could now made these funds more expensive and access to these markets more difficult.

The slowing world economy was likely to negatively affect demand for raw materials and so weaken exports, especially to Asian markets.

"I don't think China, India and Brazil will avoid this crisis, which means less demand and lower opportunities for growth," Kaberuka said, without giving figures.