Economic Growth, Poverty And Inequality: A Challenge For Africa

Many African countries have remained struggling with excessive levels of poverty and income inequality. If the average 2015 level of poverty in other regions was around 13%, the proportion of poor in the Sub-Saharan Africa region was up to 41%. The trend of the share of the poor is steadily decreasing, although absolute poverty figures have increased substantially. Economic growth has specific instruments for reducing poverty but has not proven effective in most countries of the region. The demographic burden and income inequality are the main problem for growth elasticity of poverty. The purpose of the article is to point out the problem of income inequality as an obstacle to the elimination of poverty through economic growth. Given the substantial role of income inequality and its long-standing presence in the region, it can be stated that absolute poverty growth will be a problem in the near future. In the article we use the method of analysis, comparison and description.