"GDP growth in Africa has declined from 6.0 percent in 2007 to 5.1 percent in 2008 and is expected to be 2.0 percent in 2009," a report published jointly by the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission (ECA) for Africa said.

Inflation on the continent, excluding Zimbabwe, was 10.7 percent in 2008, up from 6.4 percent in 2007, the report said, citing high fuel and food prices and devalued currencies.

The report did not project inflation figures for 2009 but said purchasing power would increase as oil and food prices are expected to fall, according to Reuters.

Oil-producing countries continued to fare better in 2008, seeing growth of 5.9 percent in comparison to growth of 4.3 percent for the continent's crude importers.

South Africa will be the worst affected in 2009, the report said, with its economy set to shrink by 1.2 percent - the African economic powerhouse's first recession in 17 years.

The report called for more investment in the continent's agriculture industries. It said only 6 percent of African land was arable compared to 40 percent in Asia.

 "Africa is importing $33 billion worth of food," Maurice Tankou, an agro-economist at the ECA, told Reuters. "We need to use some of that money to invest in our own economies and reduce our import bills."

Countries in Asia and the Gulf that are reliant on food imports are increasingly seeking land in the developing world to grow crops for their own populations.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation says private investment to develop agriculture in poorer countries is urgently needed if the world is to double food output by 2050 and stamp out hunger that still afflicts its population.