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Lead ers of the group of eight richest nations, who last year pledged to double aid to Africa to $50-billion a year by 2010, haven't committed enough funds to meet that goal, a World Bank official said.

The G-8 nations - the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia and Japan - increased aid by $1,6-billion last year and will have to raise it by $3,9-billion in each of the next five years to meet the pledge made by their leaders at a meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland in July 2005, according to Data, a charity pushing the issue.

Africa is the only continent to become poorer in the past 25 years, according to the United Nations. More than 300-million Africans live on less than $1 a day, and fewer than half of the children on the continent complete primary school, the UN said.

“I'm not seeing the buildup of aid to Africa at a pace that makes me confident that yet people are taking their obligations seriously,'' said John Page, the World Bank's chief economist for Africa, at a media conference in Singapore. “There's a real need to step up the pace at which governments are making commitments in 2008, 2009, 2010 or we'll run a serious risk of falling short of that increase of $25 billion for Africa.''

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has said reducing poverty in Africa is the bank's highest priority. He intends to use “a major portion'' of his address to the Boards of Governors at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings next month to discuss African development, Page said.

About 16 000 delegates are expected to attend the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Singapore from Sept. 12-20. The Group of Seven industrial nations, which accounts for two-thirds of the world economy and comprises the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Canada, will also meet during that time.

Sub-Saharan Africa's economy will probably grow 4,5% this year, slower than the 5,5% pace last year amid an increase in oil prices, Page said.

Oil prices around $70 a barrel will knock 0,5% to 1 percentage points off the annual growth rates of non-oil exporting economies in Africa in the next three to five years, Page said.

The impact is less severe than previous oil shocks for countries that aren't oil exporters because prices of other commodities including agricultural products have also risen, the World Bank economist said.

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