An African Transformation publication:
Manufacturing has decided pluses. It can deliver increasing returns to scale and has great opportunities for technological learning. It gives agriculture a boost by creating demand for its products and by absorbing its labor. And it spawns an array of services from market research and design to shipping and payments. But manufacturing is yet to take off in Sub-Saharan Africa. Not only is the share of manufacturing in GDP low across the region, the shares in several countries have been falling.
Image courtesy of the WB
A rising manufacturing capability propelled all previous economic transformations in their early stages. It diversified the production and export base and thus increased employment and export earnings. It reduced economic volatility from weather and the swings in international commodity prices. It also widened the scope for learning about and upgrading technology and thus for raising productivity...[continue reading]