This is the fifth edition of the report, jointly produced by the African Development Bank and the OECD Development Centre, which assesses economic developments and prospects for the African continent based on indepth country studies of 30 countries (which account for 87 per cent of Africa's population and 90 per cent of its economic output). Divided into three sections, the report i) reviews the region's overall macroeconomic performance and progress towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals, governance and political issues, with a special focus on the need to promote and finance transport infrastructure; ii) sets out individual country reports for 30 countries, each giving an assessment of recent economic performance, projections for 2006 and 2007, an examination of structural issues, and a discussion of the political and social context; with iii) a statistical annex giving 23 tables comparing economic and social variables across all the countries of Africa.