By Kristin Palitza and Travis Lupick
Dec 28 2012 (IPS)

Despite the rapid economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, the continent has shown a poor capacity to commensurately boost jobs and reduce poverty, according to a report by the African Development Bank titled “Assessing Progress in Africa towards the Millennium Development Goals.”

“Contributing to this pattern is the dependence by several African countries on primary commodity exports and capital-intensive extractive industries, which have few or no linkages with other sectors of the economy.”

The report showed that while countries in sub-Saharan Africa were on track to meet the MDG goals of universal education, promoting gender equality and ensuring environmental sustainability, many nations were not likely to meet the other goals by 2015. These eight international development goals include ending poverty and promoting child and maternal health.