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Africa's Growth TurnaroundAfter stagnating for much of its
 postcolonial history, economic performance in Sub?Saharan
 Africa has markedly improved. Since 1995, average economic
 growth has been close to 5 percent per year. Has Africa
 finally turned the corner? This paper analyzes growth
 accelerations and decelerations-that is, country level
 deviations from long?run trend growth. Seen from this
 perspective, Africa's record of slow and volatile
 growth reflects a pattern of offsetting accelerations and
 declines, and much of the improvement in economic
 performance in Africa post 1995 turns out to be due to a
 substantial reduction in the frequency and severity of
 growth decelerations. The fall in economic declines since
 1995 is largely due to better macroeconomic policies, but
 changes in such 'growth determinants' as
 investment, export diversification, and productivity have
 not accompanied the growth boom. Lack of change in these
 variables and the significant role played by natural
 resources in sparking growth accelerations suggest that
 Africa's growth recovery was fragile, even before the
 recent global economic crisis. The paper concludes by
 setting out four elements of a strategy that can help move
 Africa from fewer mistakes to sustained growth: managing
 natural resources better, pushing nontraditional exports,
 building the African private sector, and creating new skills.
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Angola Economic Update, June 2014Angola's economy decelerated in
 2013 due to the weak performance of the oil sector but the
 non-oil economy expanded rapidly. Similarly, lower oil
 related export earnings and higher imports narrowed the
 current account surplus. Enhancing export competitiveness
 and implementing tax related reforms will reduce the
 co-movement between the current account and the fiscal
 account balances. Expanded agricultural output and lower
 food import prices helped curb the inflation rate to a
 single digit. While the non-oil economy expands, maintaining
 the observed level of international reserves will help
 shield the country from potential oil price fluctuations.
 This economic update analyzes recent economic developments
 in Angola and situates them in a medium-term global context.
 It evaluates the implications of macroeconomic trends and
 policy reforms in terms of the government's stated
 development objectives.
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Learning from China's Rise to Escape the Middle-Income Trap : A New Structural Economics Approach to Latin AmericaThis paper discusses the causes of the
 middle-income trap in Latin America and the Caribbean,
 identifies the challenges and opportunities for Latin
 America that come from China's rise, and draws lessons
 from New Structural Economics and the Growth Identification
 and Facilitation Framework to help Latin America escape the
 middle-income trap. Countries in Latin America and the
 Caribbean are caught in a middle-income trap due to their
 inability to structurally upgrade from low value-added to
 high value-added products. Governments in Latin America and
 the Caribbean should intervene in industries in which they
 have a comparative advantage, calibrating supporting
 policies in close collaboration with the private sector
 through public-private sector alliances. Through continuous
 structural upgrading in sectors intensive in factors such as
 natural resources, scientific knowledge, and unskilled
 labor, the region could achieve dynamic growth. This would
 require investments in education, research and development,
 and physical infrastructure. Therefore, industrial upgrading
 and diversification would be essential to avoid further
 de-industrialization arising from the competitive pressures
 of the rise of China, broaden the base for economic growth,
 and create the basis for further sustained reduction in
 unemployment, poverty and income inequality. Failure to do
 so would lead to a loss of competitiveness and risks of
 further de-industrialization.