Harvard diplomacy

At the annual Harvard University ‘Leaders in Development’ executive forum, the top 50 young leaders of the world met up to understand ‘How to Manage Change’ in the dynamic world.

Corporate personality Rohantha Athukorala met up with Member of Parliament of the economic miracle of Africa Ghana Irene Addo, who shared the key strategies that were implemented in making Ghana the power economy of Africa.

Ghana is to be the fastest growing economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a growth rate of 13.4 per cent in 2011, dropping to 10 per cent in 2012, registering a strong economic growth even without the oil sector, from sectors like construction services as large infrastructure projects are being undertaken across the country similar to Sri Lanka. Ghana’s economy benefited from strong rebound of both volumes and prices of gold and cocoa, an increase in tourism and higher household and government spending last year, with the growth rate estimated at 6.6 per cent in 2010.

A key highlight of the Ghana economy is the private sector increasingly attracting investment into their economies, which is the strategy that Sri Lanka needs to follow.

A key point discussed at the forum was that the world economy is moving from a post-crisis bounce-back phase of the recovery to a slower but solid growth in 2011 and next with developing countries contributing almost half of the global growth. It estimated that global GDP, which expanded by 3.9 per cent in 2010, will slow to 3.3 per cent in 2011, before climbing back to 3.6 per cent in 2012.

Developing countries are expected to grow about seven per cent in 2010, six per cent in 2011, and 6.1 per cent in 2012. It was also revealed that the growth rate in developing countries will continue to outstrip growth in high-income countries which were projected to grow at 2.8 per cent in 2010, 2.4 per cent in 2011 and 2.7 per cent in 2012.