Africa"s growth and competitiveness in 2008 : African global competitiveness initiative

In March 2005, then-President George W. Bush announced the African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI) as an initiative that would direct funding to key programs for trade and competitiveness in Africa. This report summarizes the results of those programs for FY 2008. Although this report is one of many produced by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it is unique in several ways. First, this report discusses AGCI in the context of the African economic environment and delineates how USAID programs are addressing on-the-ground challenges to trade. It looks at AGCI activities in the framework of AGCI"s guiding principles, approach, and implementation mechanisms to ensure that our assistance remains consistent with USAID strategy and United States Government (USG) foreign policy objectives. Second, a central focus for this report is a summary of the portfolio of projects funded by AGCI. The report describes how AGCI supports diverse activities in more than 40 countries in the areas enabling environment reform, enterprise development, access to finance, and infrastructure investment, each with results quantifying their achievements. Third, in the context of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), this report discusses the technical assistance provided to address the persistent behind-the-border constraints that hinder the duty-free trade potential that AGOA provides. Fourth, no Annual Report would be complete without the numbers. Annexes 1A and 1B to this report contain the AGCI indicators and aggregated performance targets and results accomplished by AGCI projects in FY 2008. (Author abstract)