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The latest Economic Insight: Africa Q2 report released by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), shows that African economies recorded weak productivity growth between 2000 and 2015, despite strong GDP growth rate in the same period.

The report, which was released on Wednesday, notes that from 2000 to 2015, the average GDP growth across the continent was 4.8 percent per annum. This is marginally slower than the GDP growth rate for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, which grew at an average 5.6 percent per annum in the same period.

The strong GDP growth rate in Africa over the last decade and a half was attributed to high commodity prices accompanied by a decent level of trade and investment. The ICAEW, which is a global accountancy and finance professional membership organisation, said the African continent recorded average productivity growth rate of 1.7 percent per annum over the last 15 years.

"Excluding oil-intensive economies such as Angola, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Mozambique, average output per worker in sub-Saharan Africa grew by just 1.7% per annum from 2000 to 2015, and in half of sub-Saharan economies by less than 1% per year," said Tom Rogers, Associate Director, Macro Consulting at Oxford Economics.

Productivity growth is an indicator of increased value addition in production and improvement in living standards. According to the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom, there are five drivers of productivity growth and stronger economic performance, namely, investment, innovation, skills, enterprise and competition. Productivity, or output per worker, rises when workers are more skilled and better equipped.

A recent report on productivity growth released in May 2016 by the Conference Board, a business membership and research group, shows that labour productivity in Nigeria in 2015 was -2.7 percent, compared to -2.5 percent for South Africa, 5.6 percent for Ethiopia, and 1.3 percent for Ghana. Others are India (5.2 percent), China (3.3 percent), Brazil (-4.2 percent), Germany (0.9 percent), United States (0.7 percent) and United Kingdom (0.8 percent).

"Matching the performance of some other emerging market regions might, at face value, seem respectable enough. But the truth is that Africa is starting from a much lower level of economic development than these economies," said Michael Armstrong, Regional Director, ICAEW Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

ICAEW said the low level of productivity performance in Africa might be explained by the type of capital in which funds have been invested. For example, investment in high-end property development in African cities is not likely to boost wider productivity.

The report also says Ethiopia, Republic of Congo and Tanzania have seen productivity growth in manufacturing, while Rwanda, Botswana and Ghana have productivity improvements in agricultural sectors.

"Agriculture will always play a key role in Africa's economy. Poor agricultural output, combined with weaker exports and the current pressure exerted by low global oil prices, has undermined currencies in the region. This has further fuelled inflationary pressure," said Michael.

"The fact is Africa has tremendous economic po-tential, but realizing it will depend on being able to move up the value chain and deliver productivity improvements," Tom Rogers added.