https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Maputo ranked African large city with highest potential for inclusive growth

15th January 2016

By: David Oliveira

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

Font size: - +

Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, is the large African city with the highest potential for inclusive growth, according to the 2015 MasterCard African Cities Growth Index (ACGI).

Casablanca, in Morocco, and Lagos, in Nigeria, were ranked second and third respectively.

Now in its third year, the ACGI map African cities' economic outlook according to their potential for inclusive urbanisation. The 74 cities analysed last year were organised into three categories by population size, namely large, with populations over one-million; medium, with populations between 500 000 and one-million; and small, with populations below 500 000.

Twenty-five economic and social inclusion indicators ranked cities’ level of inclusive urbanisation, which forecast the cities’ potential for inclusive growth.

The cities fell into one of four groups, which described their inclusive growth potential, as either high, medium-high, medium-low or low. A score of 50 and above would place a city in the high category, a score of 40 to 50 was deemed medium-high, scores of 30 to 40 ranked cities as medium-low, while a score below 30 ranked cities as low.

“The ACGI assesses the potential of Africa’s cities to increase the wellbeing of their urban populations. As inclusive urbanisation is a prerequisite for inclusive growth, the study presents a measure of each city’s potential as a place to live, work and do business in the coming years,” explained 2015 ACGI author and University of South Africa Professor George Angelopulo.

Maputo’s inclusive growth potential fell into the medium-high category, attributed to its share of Mozambique’s foreign direct investment, which, as a percentage of national gross domestic product contribution, was among the highest in the world. The city boasted constantly improving levels of government effectiveness, regulatory quality and ease of doing business.

Angelopulo noted that Casablanca was the only North African city with medium-high growth potential, supported by Morocco’s relative stability in a turbulent region.

In Lagos, the increased percentage of middle-class households was a significant contributor to its ranking, owing to the number of citizens that increase represented and the effect they would have on future consumption in the city.

The 2013 and 2014 top-ranked city Accra, in Ghana, now ranked seventh, which was attributed to lower than anticipated revenue from the country’s Jubilee oilfields and exacerbated by the collapse of the oil price.

Further, the cost of wage increases, subsidies and debt repayments further undermined economic expansion projections for Accra.

“Each city assessed by the ACGI has a unique set of socioeconomic, cultural and political factors that influences its growth trajectory. However, a city’s response to the drivers of population growth, urbanisation and an increasing middle-class ultimately determines the upward or downward direction of its inclusive growth,” said Angelopulo.

He highlighted that cities with higher skilled and educated populations, lower crime and corruption levels, higher discretionary income, regulatory stability and predictable commercial environments were “beacons for talent, business and investment” and offered their citizens “greater promise”.

The only large cities in Southern Africa were located in South Africa, all of which ranked lower than in the 2014 ACGI report. Slow economic growth combined with increasing populations made it likely that South African cities would experience greater inequality over the next decade.

Pretoria was the South African city with the greatest potential for inclusive growth, followed by Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

Matola, in Mozambique and to the west of Maputo, was the ACGI’s medium-sized city with the highest potential for inclusive growth. It was also the city with the highest potential for growth throughout Mozambique, suggesting the positive outlook for the inclusive economic growth and development of Mozambique in the future. Matola is followed by Nouakchott, in Mauritania, and Libreville, in Gabon. All three cities had medium-high inclusive growth potential.

Of the small cities assessed, Windhoek, in Namibia, and Victoria, in the Seychelles, ranked first and second respectively with medium-high inclusive growth potential. Gaborone, in Botswana, was third, with a medium-low inclusive growth potential.

MasterCard sub-Saharan Africa president Daniel Monehin believed cities had a leading role to play in economic growth, particularly in developing nations where rapid urbanisation and an expanding middle class characterised their evolution.

“However, inclusive growth is not possible without appropriate financial services and instruments in place to benefit the under banked and those excluded from the formal banking system. The only way to ensure sustained, inclusive economic growth is through the financial inclusion of all individuals, communities and countries – starting with the inclusive development of cities,” he stated.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

Hanna Instruments Image
Hanna Instruments (Pty) Ltd

We supply customers with practical affordable solutions for their testing needs. Our products include benchtop, portable, in-line process control...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Schauenburg SmartMine IoT
Schauenburg SmartMine IoT

SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (15/03/2024)
15th March 2024 By: Martin Creamer

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.249 0.308s - 174pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now