Rampant growth spells trouble

"The benefits of the high growth rates and rising national incomes in African countries in the past decade have not been distributed equitably and have generated extraordinary levels of inequality," said the report released ahead of next week's meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa.

"Extreme inequality leads to insecurity and political instability," it added.

The report said 45 out the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa had achieved growth averaging 4.7% since the turn of the decade, albeit usually from a low base and often fired by a boom in commodity prices rather than better governance.

But while there was "an emerging middle class in many African countries," the vast majority were not getting any benefit from advance.

"Some 500 million Africans still subsist on less than $2 a day while elements of the political class and their business associates have become extremely wealthy," said the report.

"A sense of democratic accountability, backed by disciplined budget planning, would allow governments to use increased revenues and the benefits of lower debt service obligations to alleviate poverty and reduce income gaps," it added.

Complaints about the wealth gap are widespread in many parts of the continent, including its economic powerhouse South Africa where the ruling party's leader Jacob Zuma admitting earlier this year that it was widening.

In oil-rich Angola, the continent's fastest-growing economy, around 70% of the population live on less than $2 a day, according to the United Nations.

Eight African heads of state, including South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart Umaru Yar'Adua, will attend the WEF on Africa which takes place in Cape Town from June 4-6.

- AFP