Ghana: Accra Tops Africa’s Growth Potential Cities

A new statement has identified Accra, Lusaka and Luanda as Africa’s capital cities with the highest potential for increase over the next five years.

The MasterCard African Cities Increase Index, which rated the capital cities of Ghana, Zambia and Angola high on the inventory, said although South Africa and Nigeria were the only nations with three cities in the index, none featured in the top five.

Professor George Angelopulo of the University of South Africa and Prof George Roger of the University of Cape Town, who compiled the statement, noted: “While additional established cities offer the expected potential for increase, other less prominent ones are quietly establishing themselves as those with even higher increase potential. Accelerated increase factors included health, education, governance, infrastructure development and the relieve of doing business.”

It said cities in Africa showed signs that their populations would continue to grow, adding that the continent was expected to have the major workforce in the world by 2035.

Harare (Zimbabwe), Kano (Nigeria), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), and Khartoum (Sudan) were deemed to have the lowest increase potential of the 19 cities examined in the study and Johannesburg, although an economic powerhouse city, completed lower scores in certain categories because of lower increase expectations owing to its relative maturity compared with other African cities. Johannesburg appears eighth while Durban and Cape Town appeared 10th and 11th, respectively.

The index was launched at the second Africa Knowledge Forum hosted by MasterCard in Johannesburg recently.

The forum brought together thought leaders from academia‚ business and government.

“Johannesburg will not disappear overnight. It is a well-established city and by far the powerhouse of its region. A balanced portfolio is as well needed for a city to grow further,” he stated.

The forum examines how cities across Africa are playing an increasingly significant role in driving national and regional increase.

The index used data compiled between 2009 and 2011 to arrive at its findings and factors taken into consideration included gross domestic product, increase per capita, household consumption spending increase, governance factors and relieve of doing business.

Dr Azar Jammine of Econometrix said the rapidly expanding people of Johannesburg made it one of the fastest growing cities in the continent. According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the urban people of Africa was expected to triple by 2050 to 1.23-billion (from 395-million in 2009), during which 60 % of all Africans would be living in cities or urban areas.

The World Bank this month said net capital inflows to sub-Saharan Africa are projected to nearly double from $43.4bn in 2008 to $86.1bn in 2015.Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, Economic Advisor to MasterCard, said increase in people in these cities could drive inclusive increase for the continent with the fastest growing people.