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Focusing ondomesticresourcesmobilizationAfrican Economic ConferenceTunis, Tunisia, 12-14 November 2008This meeting is taking place at a time of increasingly grave outlookfor the global economy and by extension the African economy.The financial meltdown in key economies has spread to other partsof the world and is also impacting negatively on the real sector. Accordinglywe are faced with the prospect of global economic recessionand slow down, which contrary to the view in some quarters,will certainly have serious implications for economic and social developmentin Africa, both in the short-run and intermediate term.Although we are unable to immediately measure the full impactof the crisis on African economies because of the rapidly changingsituation and time-lags in reporting, there are clear signs of a slowdown.An AfDB forecast for 2008 cut the growth rate for Africa from6.5% to 5%, while the IMF projected a similar decline of 1.3% in continentalgrowth for 2009, which is the largest in any region of theworld. There is clear evidence of financial contagion as all the fourmajor African stock markets have fallen as dramatically as the USstock market. Falling commodity prices, which portend lower exportrevenues, are of equal concern, especially as many African countriesare still struggling to cope with the lingering effects of recent historicallyhigh food and oil prices.There is also a strong likelihood of increased cost and reduced availabilityof capital due to reduced private investment, official develop-Integrating Africa191