| Population: | 887 million (14%) |
| GDP (PPP): | US$ 1. There are three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product (GDP (the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 635 trillion US$ 2. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 572 trillion (2007) |
| GDP (Currency): | $558 billion $1,150 billion (2007) |
| GDP/capita (PPP): | $1,968 $2,975 (2007) IMF |
| GDP/capita (Currency): | $671 |
| Annual growth in per capita GDP: |
5. PLEASE NO RANDOM FIGURES THERE ARE NO FIGURES BASED ON NATIONAL STATISTICS IN THIS ARTICLE This article includes three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product (GDP at Purchasing power parity (PPP Per capita The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) is an International organization that oversees the Global financial system by following the Macroeconomic This article includes three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product Per capita at Nominal values, the 16% (2004-2006) |
| Income of top 10%: | 44. 7% |
| Millionaires: | 0. 1 million (0. 01%) |
| Population living on under $1 per day: |
36. 2% |
| External debt as a percent of GDP |
60. External debt (or foreign debt) is that part of the total debt in a country that is owed to Creditors outside the country 7% (1998) 25. 5% (2007) IMF |
| External debt payments a as percent of GDP |
4. The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) is an International organization that oversees the Global financial system by following the Macroeconomic 2% 3. 0% (2007) IMF |
| Foreign aid revenue as a percent of GDP |
3. The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) is an International organization that oversees the Global financial system by following the Macroeconomic Aid (from the french word aide, also known as international aid, overseas aid, or foreign aid, especially in the United States) is 2% (2001) |
| Estimated female income |
51. Income, refers to consumption opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame which is generally expressed in monetary terms 8% of male |
| Numbers from the UNDP and AfDB. The African Development Bank ( ADB) is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa. Most numbers exclude some countries for lack of information. Since these tend to be the poorest nations, these numbers tend to have an upwards bias. Numbers are mostly from 2002. | |
| See also: Economy of the world - Economy of Africa - Economy of Asia - Economy of Europe - Economy of North America - Economy of Oceania - Economy of South America | |
| edit | |
The economy of Africa consists of the trade, industry, and resources of the peoples of Africa. The world economy can be evaluated in various ways depending on the model used and this valuation can then be represented in various ways (for example in 2006 US dollars) Economic development Ancient and medieval times Asia was relatively rich in the ancient times Economic development Pre-1945 Industrial growth Prior to World War II, Europe's major financial and industrial states were the United Kingdom, The economy of North America comprises more than 514 million people in 23 sovereign states and 15 dependent territories Economic Development Future As the worlds regions become increasingly interlinked to form trade blocs the future which entails Oceania could lead to either increased unity Economic development As of early 2007 South America is experiencing great economic development with Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay Trade is the willing exchange of goods, services, or both Trade is also called Commerce. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" As of July 2005, approximately 887 million people were living in 54 different states. 2005: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October This is a list of African countries and dependencies by Population. Africa is the world's poorest inhabited continent. Though parts of the continent have made significant gains over the last few years, of the 175 countries reviewed in the United Nations' Human Development Report 2003, 25 African nations ranked lowest amongst the nations of the world. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The Human Development Report (HDR is an annual milestone publication by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP This is partly due to its turbulent history. The decolonization of Africa was fraught with instability aggravated by cold war conflict. Since mid-20th century the Cold War and increased corruption and despotism have also contributed to Africa's poor economy. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain Despotism is a Form of government by a single authority either an individual or tightly knit group, which rules with absolute political power
The biggest contrast in terms of development has been between Africa and the economy of East Asia. The economy of East Asia is one of the most successful regional economies of the world The economies of China and India have grown rapidly, while Latin America has also experienced moderate growth, lifting millions above subsistence living. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country By contrast, much of Africa has stagnated and even regressed in terms of foreign trade, investment, per capita income, and other economic growth measures. International trade is exchange of Capital, Goods, and Services across International borders or Territories. Investment or investing is a term with several closely-related meanings in Business management, Finance and Economics, related to saving Per capita income means how much each individual receives in monetary terms of the yearly income generated in the country Economic growth is the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy over time [1] Poverty has had widespread effects, including low life expectancy, violence, and instability, which in turn have perpetuated the continent's growth problems. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age Violence is the exertion of force so as to injure or abuse The word is used broadly to describe the destructive action of natural phenomena like Storms and Earthquakes Over the decades, there have been many unsuccessful attempts to improve the economies of individual African countries. However, recent data suggest some parts of the continent are experiencing faster growth. The World Bank reports the economy of Sub-Saharan African countries grew at rates that match global rates. The World Bank is an internationally supported Bank that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs (e [2][3]The economies of the fastest growing African nations experienced growth significantly above the global average rates. The top nations in 2007 include Mauritania with growth at 19. Mauritania (موريتانيا Mūrītāniyā officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country 8%, Angola at 17. Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central 6%, Mozambique at 7. Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa 9% and Malawi at 7. The Republic of Malawi (məˈlɑːwi or; formerly Nyasaland) is in southern Africa. 8%. [4]
Contents |
Regional variation
While no African nation has joined the ranks of the developed nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) yet, the entire continent is not utterly impoverished and there is considerable variation in its wealth. The term developed country, or advanced country, is used to categorize countries with developed Economies in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors Arab North Africa has long been closely linked to the economies of Europe and the Middle East. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Economic development Pre-1945 Industrial growth Prior to World War II, Europe's major financial and industrial states were the United Kingdom, The Economy of the Middle East is composed of the countries of Southwest Asia and Egypt namely Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain South Africa is by far the continent's wealthiest state, both in GDP per capita and in total GDP, and its neighbors have shared in this wealth. South Africa has a two-tiered economy one rivaling other developed countries and the other with only the most basic Infrastructure. South Africa is a likely future member of the OECD. The small but oil-rich states of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea round out the list of the ten wealthiest states in Africa. Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Gabon (gəˈbɒn or /gaˈbõ/ in French) is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Republic The Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( República de Guinea Ecuatorial,) is a country in Central Africa.
The temperate northern and southern ends of the continent are wealthier than tropical sub-Saharan Africa. Within the tropics, East Africa, with its long pre-colonial history of trade and development, has tended to be wealthier and more stable than elsewhere. Islands such as the Seychelles, Réunion, Mauritius, and Cape Verde have remained wealthier than the continental nations, although the unstable Comoros remain poor. Seychelles (seɪˈʃɛl or /seɪˈʃɛlz/ in English and seʃɛl in French) officially the Republic of Seychelles (République des Seychelles Creole Réunion ( French: Réunion or formally La Réunion; previously Île Bourbon) is an island located in the Indian Ocean, east of Mauritius (pronounced məˈrɪʃəs L’île Maurice /il mɔ'ʁis/ Mauritian Creole: Maurice) officially the Republic of Mauritius, République The Republic of Cape Verde ( Portuguese: Cabo Verde, 'kabu 'veɾdɨ is a Republic located on an Archipelago in the Macaronesia The Comoros (ˈkɒməroʊz; جزر القمر Juzur al-Qumur) officially the Union of the Comoros (Union des Comores الإتّحاد القمريّ
The poorest states are those engaged in or just emerging from civil wars. A thus far incomplete list of conflicts in Africa (arranged by Country including Wars between African nations Civil Wars within African nations These include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Burundi, and Somalia. Early history See also Early Congolese history The area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was populated as early as 10000 The Sierra Leone Civil War began in 1991, initiated by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF under Foday Sankoh. The Burundi Civil War was an armed conflict lasting from 1993 to 2005 The Somali Civil War is an armed conflict in Somalia that started in 1988 In recent times the poorest region has been the Horn of Africa, although it had historically been one of the wealthiest regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The Horn of Africa (alternatively Northeast Africa, and sometimes Somali Peninsula; shortened to HOA) is a Peninsula in East Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries Ethiopia in particular had a long and successful history. The economy of Ethiopia is based on Agriculture, which accounts for half of Gross domestic product (GDP 60% of Exports and 80% of total employment The current poverty of the region, and the associated famines and wars, have been a problem for decades. A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation
There is considerable internal variation within countries. Urban areas, especially capital cities, are generally wealthier than rural zones. Inequality is pronounced in most African countries; an upper class has a much higher income than the majority of the population. Social equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect Is a concept in Sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a Social hierarchy.
| Country | Total GDP (nominal) in 2006[5] (billion US$) |
GDP (PPP) per capita in 2005[6] (US$) |
HDI in 2005[7] |
|---|---|---|---|
 Algeria |
114. 73 | 5,985 | 0. 733 |
 Angola |
44. 03 | 3,533 | 0. 446 |
 Benin |
4. 78 | 1,390 | 0. 437 |
 Botswana |
10. 33 | 12,057 | 0. 654 |
 Burkina Faso |
6. 21 | 1,140 | 0. 370 |
 Burundi |
0. 81 | 699 | 0. 413 |
 Cameroon |
18. 32 | 1,995 | 0. 532 |
 Cape Verde |
1. 14 | 2,831 | 0. 736 |
 Central African Republic |
1. 49 | 675 | 0. 384 |
 Chad |
6. 54 | 1,749 | 0. 388 |
 Comoros |
0. 40 | 1,063 | 0. 561 |
 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
8. 54 | 264 | 0. 411 |
 Congo |
7. 39 | 3,621 | 0. 548 |
 Côte d'Ivoire |
17. 48 | 1,575 | 0. 432 |
 Djibouti |
0. 76 | 1,964 | 0. 516 |
 Egypt |
107. 48 | 5,051 | 0. 708 |
 Equatorial Guinea |
8. 56 | 11,999 | 0. 642 |
 Eritrea |
1. 09 | 689 | 0. 483 |
 Ethiopia |
13. 32 | 591 | 0. 406 |
 Gabon |
9. 55 | 12,742 | 0. 677 |
 Gambia |
0. 51 | 726 | 0. 502 |
 Ghana |
12. 91 | 1,225 | 0. 553 |
 Guinea |
3. 32 | 946 | 0. 456 |
 Guinea-Bissau |
0. 30 | 569 | 0. 374 |
 Kenya |
21. 19 | 1,359 | 0. 521 |
 Lesotho |
1. 48 | 1,415 | 0. 549 |
 Liberia |
0. 63 | 383 | 0. ? N/A |
 Libya |
50. 32 | 10,727 | 0. 818 |
 Madagascar |
5. 50 | 988 | 0. 533 |
 Malawi |
2. 23 | 691 | 0. 437 |
 Mali |
5. 93 | 1,027 | 0. 380 |
 Mauritania |
2. 66 | 1,691 | 0. 550 |
 Mauritius |
6. 45 | 10,155 | 0. 804 |
 Morocco |
57. 31 | 3,547 | 0. 646 |
 Mozambique |
7. 61 | 743 | 0. 384 |
 Namibia |
6. 37 | 4,547 | 0. 650 |
 Niger |
3. 54 | 613 | 0. 374 |
 Nigeria |
114. 69 | 1,892 | 0. 470 |
 Réunion (France) |
15. 98[8] | 19,233 (nominal)[8] | 0. 850 (in 2003)[9] |
 Rwanda |
2. 49 | 813 | 0. 452 |
 São Tomé and Príncipe |
0. 12 | 1,460 | 0. 654 |
 Senegal |
8. 94 | 1,676 | 0. 499 |
 Seychelles |
0. 75 | 13,887 | 0. 843 |
 Sierra Leone |
1. 44 | 790 | 0. 336 |
 Somalia |
0. 06[6] | 199 | 0. ? N/A |
 South Africa |
254. 99 | 8,477 | 0. 674 |
 Sudan |
37. 57 | 2,249 | 0. 526 |
 Swaziland |
2. 65 | 4,384 | 0. 547 |
 Tanzania |
12. 78 | 1,018 | 0. 467 |
 Togo |
2. 21 | 888 | 0. 512 |
 Tunisia |
30. 30 | 6,461 | 0. 766 |
 Uganda |
9. 32 | 991 | 0. 505 |
 Zambia |
10. 91 | 1,175 | 0. 434 |
 Zimbabwe |
5. 01 | 538 | 0. 513 |
History
Before the Roman Empire, ancient Egypt was one of the world's most prosperous and advanced civilizations. It is today believed that humanity originated in Africa and as soon as human societies formed so did Economic activity The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now The port of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 334 BC, was a hub for Mediterranean trade for centuries. Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Well into the 19th century, Egypt remained one of the most developed regions outside Europe.
South of the Sahara conditions were different. The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest Internal trade within the continent, hindered by thick forests and massive deserts, was always difficult. A forest is an area with a high density of Trees There are many definitions of a forest based on various criteria A desert is a Landscape or region that receives very little precipitation. Prosperity in sub-Saharan Africa was rare, excepting Nubia, Ethiopia, Mali and Ghana, which had trade routes north to the Mediterranean world and Middle East. Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries This article is about the region in Africa for other uses see Nubia (disambiguation. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page The Mali Empire or Manding Empire or Manden Kurufa was a Medieval West African civilization of the Mandinka from c The Ghana Empire or Wagadou Empire (existed c 750 - 1076) was located in what is now southeastern Mauritania, Western Mali
Sub-Saharan Africans have historically built structures from stone mainly in the Nile Valley in cities like Meroe, Napata, Axum by former Nubian and Ethiopian kingdoms. Meroë ( Meroitic: Medewi or Bedewi; Arabic: ar مرواه ar-Latn Meruwah) is the name of an ancient city on the east bank of the Napata was a City on the west bank of the Nile River some 400 km north of Khartoum, the present capital of Sudan. Axum, or Aksum, is a City in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca Most other Sub Saharan African pre-colonial civilizations built mainly out of mud brick, leaving few lasting ruins except Great Zimbabwe. A mudbrick is a firefree Brick made of Clay, or mud mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw The Great Zimbabwe, or "stone buildings" is the name given to hundreds of great stone Ruins spread out over a 500 km² (200 square mile area within the modern-day Finding no architectural monuments in most parts of the region, some European explorers and historians long concluded that pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa was devoid of civilization (see Sub-Saharan Africa critic of the term). Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries
New technologies and the development of civilization made trading easier. For most of the first millennium AD, the Axumite Kingdom had a prosperous trade empire on the eastern horn, where the modern states of Ethiopia and Eritrea lie. The Aksumite Empire or Axumite Empire (sometimes called the Kingdom of Aksum or Axum ( Ge'ez: አክሱም was an important trading NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in Axum had a powerful navy and traded as far as the Byzantine Empire, India, and possibly China. Axum, or Aksum, is a City in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The introduction of the camel by North African Arab conquerors in the 10th century opened trade across the Sahara for the first time. Camels are Even-toed ungulates within the Genus Camelus. The Dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and the The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding The profits from the gold and salt trades created powerful empires in the western Sahel including the Kingdom of Ghana and the Mali and Kanem-Bornu Empires, where travellers reported vast wealth. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 Salt is a Dietary mineral composed primarily of Sodium chloride that is essential for Animal life but toxic to most land plants See also Sahel Tunisia, a region of eastern Tunisia. The Sahel or Sahel Belt (from Arabic ساحل sāḥil The Ghana Empire or Wagadou Empire (existed c 750 - 1076) was located in what is now southeastern Mauritania, Western Mali The Mali Empire or Manding Empire or Manden Kurufa was a Medieval West African civilization of the Mandinka from c The Kanem Empire (700 - 1376 was located in the present countries of Chad and Libya. Arabs helped build a maritime trade along Africa's east coast, which prospered as Swahili traders exported ivory and slaves across the Indian Ocean. The Swahili are a people and culture found on the coast of East Africa, mainly the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya and Tanzania, and north Ivory is formed from Dentine and constitutes the bulk of the Teeth and Tusks of animals such as the Elephant, Hippopotamus, Slavery is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface
Further south empires were less common, with the notable exception of Great Zimbabwe. The Great Zimbabwe, or "stone buildings" is the name given to hundreds of great stone Ruins spread out over a 500 km² (200 square mile area within the modern-day In the Great Lakes region, states such as Rwanda, Burundi, and Buganda became strongly centralized, due to its high population and agricultural surplus. The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of Lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African The Republic of Rwanda (ruːˈændə or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English ɾwanda or in Kinyarwanda is a small Landlocked country in the Burundi (buˈɾundi officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda Buganda is the kingdom of the Baganda people the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda.
In the 15th century, Portuguese traders circumvented the Saharan trade route and began to trade directly with Guinea. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. Other European traders followed, rapidly boosting prosperity in Western Africa. States flourished, including the Kingdom of Benin, Dahomey, and the Ashanti Confederacy. The Benin Empire or Edo Empire (1440-1897 was a large pre-colonial African state of modern Nigeria. The Ashanti Empire or Asante Empire, also known as the Ashanti Confederacy or Asanteman (independent from 1701-1896 was a pre-colonial West Loose federations of city states such as those of the Yoruba and Hausa were common. A federation ( Latin: foedus, covenant is a union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal" A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. The Yoruba (Yo•row•ba ( Yorùbá in Yoruba Orthography) are one of the largest ethno-linguistic or Ethnic groups in West Africa The Hausa are a Sahelian people chiefly located in the West African regions of northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger. However, this wealth was principally based on the slave trade, which collapsed following the abolition of slavery and later European colonization. This article discusses systems of slavery within Africa the history and effects of the slavery trade upon Africa Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies
Although Europeans were ostensibly committed to developing their colonies, colonial rulers employed a laissez-faire strategy during the first decades. Laissez-faire ( pronunciation: French,; English,) is a French phrase literally meaning Let do (“allow to do” It was hoped that European companies would prosper if given a secure operating environment. This only occurred in a few areas with rich resources; the colonial economies hardly grew from the 1890s through the 1920s. The colonies had to pay their own way, receiving little or no development money from Europe. Only in the 1930s, with the rise of Keynesian economics, did the colonial administrations seriously encourage development. In Economics Keynesian economics (ˈkeɪnziən also Keynesianism and Keynesian Theory) is based on the ideas of twentieth-century British economist However, new projects could not transpire until after the Great Depression and the Second World War. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
African economies boomed during the 1950s as growth and international trade multiplied beyond their pre-war levels. The insatiable demand for raw materials in the rebuilding economies of Asia and Europe and the strong growth in North America inflated the price of raw materials. By the end of the colonial era in the 1960s, there was great hope for African self-sufficience and prosperity. However, sporadic growth continued as the newly independent nations borrowed heavily from abroad.
The world economic decline of the 1970s, rising oil prices, corruption, and political instability hit Africa hard. In subsequent decades Africa has steadily become poorer compared to the rest of the world; South America experienced solid growth, and East Asia spectacular growth, during that same period. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a According to the World Economic Forum, ten percent of the world's poor were African in 1970; by 2000, that figure had risen to 50 percent. The World Economic Forum (WEF is a Geneva -based Non-profit foundation best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland Between 1974 and 2000 the average income declined by $200. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Beginning in 1976, the Lomé Convention and Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and ACP countries, including Sub-Saharan Africa, have structured economic relations between the two regions. The Lomé Convention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Union (EU and 71 African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP countries, first signed in February The Cotonou Agreement is a Treaty between the European Union and the group of African Caribbean and Pacific states ( ACP countries) The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The ACP States are the countries that are signatories of the Lomé Convention.
Sectors
Agriculture
Around 60 percent of African workers are employed by the agricultural sector, with about three-fifths of African farmers being subsistence farmers. Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficient farming in which farmers grow only enough food to feed the family and to pay taxes or feudal dues Subsistence farms provide a source of food and a relatively small income for the family, but generally fail to produce enough to make re-investment possible. Larger farms tend to grow cash crops such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, and rubber. In Agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for Money. CoFFEE is an Open source Software for computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL in a digital classroom Cotton is a soft staple Fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant ( Gossypium sp Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree from which Chocolate is made These farms, normally operated by large corporations, cover tens of square kilometres and employ large numbers of labourers.
The situation whereby African nations export crops to the West while millions on the continent starve has been blamed on Western States including Japan, the European Union and the United States. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The United States of America —commonly referred to as the These countries protect their own agricultural sectors with high import tariffs and offer subsidies to their farmers, which many contend leads the overproduction of such commodities as grain, cotton and milk. For the protectionist Australian political party from the 1880s to 1909 see Protectionist Party For other uses of this word see Tariff (disambiguation. A tariff is a tax imposed on goods when they are moved across a political boundary The result of this is that the global price of such products is continually reduced until Africans are unable to compete, except for cash crops that do not grow easily in a northern climate.
Due to these market forces, in Africa excess capacity is devoted to growing crops for export. Thus, when civil unrest or a bad harvest occurs, there is often very little food saved and many starve. Ironically, excess foodstuffs grown in developed nations are regularly destroyed, as it is not economically viable to transport it across the oceans to a market poor in capital. Although cash crops can expand a nation's wealth, there is often a risk that focusing on them rather than staples will lead to food shortages and hunger.
- See also: Trade and development
Mining and drilling
Africa's most valuable exports are minerals and petroleum. Trade is a key factor in economic development. A successful use of trade can boost a country's development. A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition a highly ordered atomic structure and specific Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit A few countries possess and export the vast majority of these resources. The southern nations have large reserves of gold, diamonds, and copper. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 In Mineralogy, diamond is the allotrope of carbon where the carbon atoms are arranged in Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 Petroleum is concentrated in Nigeria, its neighbors, and Libya. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab
While mining and drilling produce most of Africa's revenues each year, these industries only employ about two million people, a tiny fraction of the continent's population. Profits normally go either to large corporations or to the governments. Both have been known to squander this money on luxuries for the elite or on mega-projects that return little value.
In some cases, these resources have turned out to be a curse. The resource curse (also the paradox of plenty) refers to the Paradox that countries and regions with an abundance of Natural resources specifically point-source Although Congo is rich in minerals, the country remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. This is historically due to ownership fights over these minerals, tracing back to the early 1900s. After Congo's independence from Belgium, the colonial government hesitated to leave behind these resources. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Congo solicited UN help against Belgium, but that turned out to be a bad idea. In an attempt to get out of the quagmire, Congo sought Soviet assistance. This led the country into deeper trouble, as the country separated into two and a long proxy war between the West and East began.
- See also: Aluminum in Africa, Iron ore in Africa, Platinum in Africa, and Titanium in Africa
Manufacturing
Africa is the least industrialized continent; only South Africa, Egypt and North Africa in general have substantial manufacturing sectors. Aluminium in Africa originates primarily in Guinea, Mozambique and Ghana. Iron ore production in Africa is dominated by South Africa, Mauritania and Algeria; Zimbabwe and Morocco produce ore for use within the country Platinum, and Platinum group metals, in Africa, are produced in Zimbabwe and the Republic of South Africa. Titanium mining in Africa has been beset by environmental problems due to the polluting nature of processing Rutile, a principal titanium Ore. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Despite readily available cheap labour, nearly all of the continent's natural resources are exported for secondary refining and manufacturing. According to the AFDB, about 15% of workers are employed in the industrial sector. The African Development Bank ( ADB) is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa.
The multinational corporations that control most of the world's major industries and their financiers require political stability before erecting an expensive factory and risk losing that investment through nationalization. Multinational corporation ( MNC) or transnational corporation ( TNC) is a Corporation or enterprise that manages Production or delivers Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government An educated populace, good infrastructure and a stable source of electricity are essential to investments. Infrastructure typically refers to the technical structures that support a society such as Roads Water supply, Wastewater, Power grids These factors are rare in Africa. Other developing regions of the world such as India and China have been more attractive to companies looking to build a new factory or invest in a local enterprise. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National
Many African states used to limit foreign investment to ensure local majority ownership. Close governmental control over industry further discouraged international investment. Attempts to foster local industry have been hampered by insufficient technology, training, and investment money. The paucity of local markets and the difficulty of transporting goods from major African centres to world markets contribute to the lack of manufacturing outside of South Africa and Egypt.
Investment and banking
Banking in Africa has long been problematic. Because local banks are often unstable and corrupt, governments and industry rely on international banks. South Africa alone has a thriving banking sector, aided by the international sanctions of the apartheid era, which forced out the once-dominant British banks. In the years after independence, African governments heavily regulated the banking sector and placed strict limits on international competition. In recent decades, banking reform has been a priority of the IMF and World Bank. The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) is an International organization that oversees the Global financial system by following the Macroeconomic The World Bank is an internationally supported Bank that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs (e One important reform was obtaining permission for increased penetration by foreign banks. South Africa has been the most successful in attracting local operation of foreign banks.
Encouraging foreign investment in Africa has been difficult. Even Africans are reluctant to invest locally; about forty percent of sub-Saharan African savings are invested in other markets. The IMF and World Bank only lend money after imposing stringent and controversial conditions such as austerity policies. In Economics, austerity is when a national government reduces its spending in order to pay back Creditors Austerity is usually required when a government's fiscal
There are two African currency unions; the West African Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO) and the Central African Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale (BEAC). In economics a monetary union is a situation where several countries have agreed to share a single currency (also known as a unitary or common currency Both use the CFA franc as their legal tender. The CFA franc (in French: franc CFA, "céfa" or just franc colloquially is a currency used in twelve formerly French -ruled
Communication and information technology
The continent has the largest growth rate of cellular subscribers in the world. There are two African Currency unions associated with multinational Central banks; the West African Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO and the This is a list of stock exchanges in Africa. Members of the African Stock Exchanges Association (ASEA are marked with an asterisk * [10] African markets are expanding nearly twice as fast as Asian markets. [11] The African cell phone has created a base for cellular banking. [12]
Determinants
The seemingly intractable nature of Africa's poverty runs counter to modern economic theory, leading to debate concerning its root causes. Endemic warfare and unrest, widespread corruption, and despotic regimes are both causes and effects of the continued economic problems. Endemic warfare is the state of continual low-threshold Warfare in a tribal Warrior society
Geography
Africa has the largest hot desert and the second largest tropical forest in the world that hinder building transcontinental means of transportations, hampering its economy. In the centre of the continent, on the western side, an almost impenetrable rainforest impedes the transit of people and goods. Rainforests are Forests characterized by high Rainfall with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches The Sahara creates an obvious barrier to trade from the north. Although Africa has great river systems such as the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi, they do not link the continent into trade routes effectively as happens in Europe and China. The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River The Niger River (ˈnaɪdʒɚ NYE-jer) is the principal River of western Africa, extending about 4180 km (2600 miles The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. The Zambezi (also spelled Zambesi) is the fourth-longest River in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa Rapids and cataracts block African rivers, requiring development projects to allow navigation. The wet terrain of the interior complicates transport. Few roads are paved and during the wet season unpaved tracks become impassable mud.
Countries in Africa are cut off from the sea more than those on other continents. Africa has more landlocked nations than any other continent, which support a high population density compared to the steppes or plains of North America and Asia. In physical Geography, a steppe ( German, from степь - "a flat and arid land" степ - /stɛp/ тал - tal дала - /dɑlɑ/ pronounced The ridge running from Zimbabwe to Ethiopia has superb volcanic soils and the higher altitude produces a more temperate climate. These enable more interior settlement, but the lack of access to the sea makes international trade harder.
The majority of the world's population and wealth is found in the temperate zone. Historically the vast expanse of Eurasia, almost entirely in the temperate zone (except for the vast tracts that are dry and hot such as the Arabian Peninsula; cold tundra such as in North Asia, and tropical such as subcontinental India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore) was linked by land routes, allowing technologies and ideas to spread from one area over time, aiding innovation. For the superstate in George Orwell 's novel see Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The agricultural techniques and medicines designed to work in the northern climes may fail in the tropics. This theory could partly explain why temperate South Africa is by far the wealthiest part of Africa, and why other tropical areas in South America and Indonesia share Africa's poverty, though tropical Singapore and Brunei do not, nevertheless they are still isolated spots of wealth. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. There are no tropical countries in the OECD, apart from Mexico and Australia which have significant tropical sections, and only a handful have a GDP per capita above the world average, again apart from Mexico, Australia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand. A tropical latitude is not a guarantee of poverty, but globally there is a definite correlation between wealth and climate, though this said theory is far more complicated than simply considering "tropical" vs. "non-tropical" countries or regions. Variations of this theory of geographic determinism date back to Montesquieu, though these theories have been simplistic and unscientific until they have recently been revived and refined by academics such as William Masters and Jeffrey Sachs and popular writers such as Jared Diamond. Geographic determinism is a theory that the human habits and characteristics of a particular culture are shaped by geographic conditions Charles-Louis de Secondat baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (Eng Jeffrey David Sachs (born November 5, 1954, in Detroit Michigan) is an American Economist and Director of the Earth Institute TemplateInfobox writer --> Jared Mason Diamond (b 10 September, 1937) is an American Evolutionary biologist
Africa is well-endowed with natural resources, including gold, diamonds, and oil reserves, but due to several factors including poor governance and global trade policies which place tariffs on finished goods from Africa, few African countries have materially benefited from their mineral wealth. Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified ( natural) form Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 In Mineralogy, diamond is the allotrope of carbon where the carbon atoms are arranged in Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Africa is as well suited to agriculture as any other continent; the volcanic soils of the Great Lakes region are—by some measures—the best in the world. The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of Lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African
Disease
- See also: AIDS in Africa
Closely linked to geography is the problem of disease in Africa. The HIV / AIDS epidemics spreading through the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are highly varied The tropics are more hospitable to disease than the colder climates. The most significant illness has long been malaria. Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including A new problem of vast magnitude is the rise of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) is a Lentivirus (a member of the Retrovirus family that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [13] AIDS, whose spread correlates with poverty, has nevertheless hit hardest in some of the wealthiest African countries, including Botswana, Swaziland, and South Africa. The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. The Kingdom of Swaziland is a country located in Southern Africa centred at approximately 26o49'S 31o38'E The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa AIDS has decimated or will decimate the working-age population of many states.
The health-care costs, including those of importing anti-retroviral AIDS drugs from the West, is a new burden on many African states, leading to the challenging of drug prices and the manufacture of cheap generic alternatives. A generic drug (generic drugs short generics is a drug which is produced and distributed without Patent protection Tropical diseases can be just as expensive to cure, assuming a cure exists. Since the tropical regions are poorer, pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to invest in curing the diseases of the region. Disease not only reduces the work force and creates a burden on health care, but also harms agriculture and transportation, as most forms of livestock cannot survive the diseases of the region. Historically, sub-Saharan Africans could not use pack animals for trade or work horses for labor, limiting the continent's development.
Africa is in the midst of major AIDS epidemic. The HIV / AIDS epidemics spreading through the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are highly varied The cost of vaccines and medical supplies compounds the economic cost of the labor force becoming medical dependents. As parents die or become unable to work, their children must find care elsewhere, adding to the burden of already struggling families and states.
Colonialism
The economic impact of the colonization of Africa has been debated. The colonisation of Africa has a long history the most famous phase Africa acquired its greatest relative wealth in the 1960s, just prior to decolonization. African countries have yet to return to those levels of wealth. Some see this as evidence that colonialism helped local economies by creating a cyclical economic link with the ruling colonial power, and with independence this link was broken.
To achieve wealth during the colonial period, imperial overseers geared the economies of Africa towards exporting raw materials. Egypt produced cotton, Ruanda-Urundi was almost completely dedicated to growing coffee, and Upper Volta specialized in palm oil. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Cotton is a soft staple Fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant ( Gossypium sp Ruanda-Urundi was a Belgian Suzerainty from 1916 to 1924 a League of Nations Class B Mandate from 1924 to 1945 and then a UN trust territory CoFFEE is an Open source Software for computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL in a digital classroom Upper Volta (Haute-Volta was a colony of French West Africa established on March 1, 1919 from territories that had been part of the Palm oil is an edible plant oil derived from the Fruit of the Arecaceae Elaeis Oil palm. Basing an entire nation's wealth on one commodity in this way would have debilitating effects later. These monocultures left national economies extremely vulnerable to price swings, making economic planning difficult. Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area Some writers, such as Walter Rodney in his influential book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, argue that these colonial policies are directly responsible for many of Africa's modern problems. Walter Rodney ( March 23, 1942 &ndash June 13, 1980) was a prominent Guyanese historian and political figure How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a book written by Walter Rodney in which he portrays the view that Africa was deliberately exploited and underdeveloped Other post-colonial scholars, most notably Frantz Fanon, have argued that the true effects of colonialism are psychological and that domination by a foreign power creates a lasting sense of inferiority and subjugation that creates a barrier to growth and innovation. Frantz Fanon ( July 20, 1925 – December 6, 1961) was a Psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and author from
Once independent, African states saw an exodus of European administrators and consequently lacked individuals with the training or education to operate the government they had inherited. For instance, the massive area of French Equatorial Africa was divided into four independent nations, but was home to only five locals who were university graduates. French Equatorial Africa ( Afrique équatoriale française, AEF) was the federation of French colonial possessions in Middle Africa, extending
One method of gauging the effects of colonialism on the economies of Africa is to compare the results of different colonial policies implemented by the European powers. Regions where the economy was plundered, such as the Raubwirtschaft policies of Leopold II in the Congo Free State, have not prospered. Raubwirtschaft ( German for "plunder economy" "robber economy" or "rapine" is a form of Economy where the goal is to plunder the Leopold II (Léopold Louis Philippe Marie Victor Leopold Lodewijk Filips Maria Victor (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909 was King of the Belgians. The Congo Free State was a Corporate state privately controlled by Leopold II King of the Belgians through a dummy non-governmental organization the The long reluctance of Portugal to surrender its colonies, leading to long wars of independence, had an obvious negative effect on Mozambique and Angola. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central The countries formerly under French control have fared much better, and those under British dominion were the most successful. This inequality may be due to other factors than economic policy. Britain, at the time of the Scramble for Africa, was the world's greatest power and could thus cherry-pick the wealthiest parts of the continent. The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa, was the proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the New The French, with their mighty navy, could also occupy prosperous areas, while the Belgians were forced to take the economically disadvantaged interior.
Africa as a whole has not prospered compared with other colonised regions in Asia and the Americas. At the end of the Second World War the Americas were economically the strongest of the colonised regions; in the span of one generation, former colonies in Asia have become economic powerhouses. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
Cultural and linguistic diversity
In the Scramble for Africa, national boundaries in sub-Saharan Africa were established by Europeans using latitude and longitude rather than natural borders. The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa, was the proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the New Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi ( Φ) gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body north or south of the Longitude (ˈlɒndʒɪˌtjuːd or ˈlɒŋgɪˌtjuːd symbolized by the Greek character Lambda (λ is the east-west Geographic coordinate measurement This separated population centres from their supplies of food and natural resources. The artificial borders of modern African states cut across cultural, tribal, linguistic and religious boundaries, creating ethnic and religious cleavages which impede national unity and induce internal violence.
However, those states that preserved pre-colonial boundaries have been no more successful. Few countries in Africa have more troubled recent histories than Rwanda and Burundi, although their borders are almost identical to those of the prosperous kingdoms from which they are descended. The Republic of Rwanda (ruːˈændə or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English ɾwanda or in Kinyarwanda is a small Landlocked country in the Burundi (buˈɾundi officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda The ancient and only briefly occupied state of Ethiopia is one of the poorest on the continent, and ethnically unified Somalia has failed so completely that it no longer exists in any real sense. Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known Elsewhere, the Americas were also divided up by Europeans along arbitrary borders and yet those continents remain economically far more successful than Africa.
Africa is a much divided continent with many small countries. Successful economic growth requires regional cooperation, which political tensions make difficult. To be effective, foreign aid must be multilateral, making it harder to base aid upon the performance of local governments. Aid (from the french word aide, also known as international aid, overseas aid, or foreign aid, especially in the United States) is
The African peoples speak over 2,000 languages. There are an estimated 2000 Languages spoken in Africa. About a hundred of these are widely used for inter-ethnic communication [14] In 2005, six of the world's ten most linguistically diverse countries were African. The nearly 26 million people of Tanzania alone speak 127 distinct languages. Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya [15] The primary language of government, political debate, academic discourse, and administration is often the language of the former colonial powers—English, French, or Portuguese. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Only an elite minority speak these European languages fluently enough to participate in these institutions without intermediaries, further disenfranchising the majority population.
Governance
The political situation in Africa perpetuates the intractable nature of African poverty. Democracy in Africa has not been historically successful, almost always supplanted by centralized authoritarian rule such as military dictatorships. A military dictatorship is a Form of government wherein the political power resides with the Military; it is similar but not identical to a Stratocracy, Alhough some rulers worked to improve the lot of their nation's citizens, others used power purely for their own benefit. Among the most notorious was Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, whose regime has been called a kleptocracy due to its looting of the nation's wealth. Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga ( October 14, 1930 September 7, 1997) known commonly as Mobutu, or Mobutu The Republic of Zaire (pronunciation; République du Zaïre was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between October 27, 1971 A kleptocracy (sometimes cleptocracy, occasionally kleptarchy) ( root klepto+kratein = rule by thieves) is a term applied to a According to international measures, the economies of Africa generally rank among the most corrupt. Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain Bribery and graft abound, due to poverty and poorly handled de-colonization, and the superpowers' (Soviet Union and United States) practice during the Cold War of supporting any ruler with the desired political alignment, regardless of their managerial practices or human rights records. Bribery, a form of pecuniary corruption is an act usually implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient in ways not consistent with the duties of that person Decolonization refers to the undoing of Colonialism, the establishment of governance or authority through the creation of settlements by another country or jurisdiction A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the
Dependency theory asserts that the wealth and prosperity of the superpowers and their allies in Europe, North America and East Asia is dependent upon the poverty of the rest of the world, including Africa. Dependency theory is a body of Social science theories both from developed and Developing nations which are predicated on the notion that resources Economists who subscribe to this theory believe that poorer regions must break their trading ties with the developed world in order to prosper.
Less radical theories suggest that economic protectionism in developed countries hampers Africa's growth. When developing countries have harvested agricultural produce at low cost, they generally do not export as much as would be expected. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Abundant farm subsidies and high import tariffs in the developed world, most notably those set by Japan, the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, and the United States Department of Agriculture, are thought to be the cause. An agricultural subsidy is a governmental Subsidy paid to Farmers and Agribusinesses to supplement their income manage the supply of agricultural The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The Common Agricultural Policy ( CAP) is a system of European Union Agricultural subsidies and programmes The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Although these subsidies and tariffs have been gradually reduced, they remain high. This theory, however, overlooks the heavy hand of the State in several African nations that can even prevent their own exports from becoming competitive.
Although Africa and Asia had similar levels of income in the 1960s, Asia has since outpaced Africa. One school of economists argues that Asia's superior economic development lies in local investment. Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants Corruption in Africa consists primarily of extracting economic rent and moving the resulting financial capital overseas instead of investing at home; the stereotype of African dictators with Swiss bank accounts is often accurate. Economic rent is the difference between what a Factor of production is paid and how much it would need to be paid to remain in its current use Financial capital is money used by Entrepreneurs and Businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services Asian dictators such as Suharto often take a cut on everything, necessitating bribery, but enable development through infrastructure investment and the social stability created by law and order. Suharto, also spelled Soeharto (June 8 1921 &ndash January 27 2008 was an Indonesian military leader and the second President of Indonesia, holding University of Massachusetts researchers estimate that from 1970 to 1996, capital flight from 30 sub-Saharan countries totalled $187bn, exceeding those nations' external debts. The University of Massachusetts (officially nicknamed UMass) is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Capital flight, in Economics, occurs when Assets and/or Money rapidly flow out of a Country, due to an economic event that disturbs Investors Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries [16] This disparity in development is consistent with the model theorized by economist Mancur Olson. Mancur Lloyd Olson Jr ( 1932 - February 19, 1998) was a leading American economist and Social scientist who at the time Because governments were politically unstable and new governments often confiscated their predecessors' assets, officials would stash their wealth abroad, out of reach of any future expropriation. Expropriation refers to Confiscation of Private property with the stated purpose of establishing social equality.
Corruption encouraged social inequality, because the wealthy elite not only avoided investing at home, but also imported most of its consumption. Desirable luxury goods were generally not locally available. This hindered the development of national markets. Historically, economic development is closely linked to the creation of a middle class with enough income to save and invest but limited influence on governance. The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. In countries without such a middle class, development is all but impossible, except the illusory and destructive development based on extracting resources like oil. The related terms resource extraction and resource extraction industry both refer to the practice of locating acquiring and selling any resource but typically a Natural
War
Since independence, Africa has seen dozens of wars, both civil and international. This has contributed to poverty because states have spent their scarce resources on military equipment and supplies. Development has suffered, since warfare has scared off foreign investors, destroyed infrastructure, and created lasting animosities.
Much conflict was enabled by the Cold War. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The countries of the Western and Eastern blocs leveraged foreign aid money to coax countries into their camp. Aid was tied to the purchase of military weapons, and donor countries ignored misappropriation of the funds. Corruption became endemic, hampering economic development. Proxy conflicts erupted in Africa when each bloc would fund and assisted rebel or sectarian groups under the control of the opposing bloc.
Violence in Africa has increased following the Cold War, despite the slashing of foreign aid spending in developed countries. Civil wars have raged throughout the African Great Lakes region, Somalia, Sudan, Mozambique, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and Guinea-Bissau. The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of Lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African International wars include the First and Second Congo Wars between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighbours, and conflict between Ethiopia and its former province Eritrea. The First Congo War (November 1996 to May 1997 ended when Zairean President Mobutu Sésé Seko was overthrown by rebel forces backed by foreign powers such as The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in
Effects of widespread poverty
Africa's economic malaise is self-perpetuating, as it engenders more of the disease, warfare, misgovernment, and corruption that created it in the first place. African nations typically fall toward the bottom of any list measuring small size economic activity such as income per capita or GDP per capita despite a wealth of natural resources Other effects of poverty have similar consequences. The most direct consequence of low GDP is Africa's low standard of living and quality of life. The standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way these goods and services are distributed within a population Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people Except for a wealthy elite and the more prosperous peoples of South Africa and the Maghreb, Africans have very few consumer goods. Quality of life does not correlate exactly with a nation's wealth. Angola, for instance, reaps large sums annually from its diamond mines, but after years of civil war, conditions there remain poor. Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central Radios, televisions, and automobiles are rare luxuries. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Most Africans are on the far side of the Digital Divide and are cut off from communications technology and the Internet. The term digital divide refers to the gap between those people with effective access to Digital and Information technology and those without The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Quality of life and human development are also low. African nations dominate the lower reaches of the UN Human Development Index. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The Human Development Index ( HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of Life expectancy, Literacy, Educational attainment, and GDP Infant mortality is high, while life expectancy, literacy, and education are all low. Infant mortality is defined as the number of deaths of Infants (one year of age or younger per 1000 live births Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency The UN also lowers the ranking of African states because the continent sees greater inequality than any other region. The best educated often choose to leave the continent for the West or the Persian Gulf to seek a better life. The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region is an extension of the
Catastrophes cause deadly periods of great shortages. The most damaging are the famines that have regularly hit the continent, especially the Horn of Africa. A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation These have been caused by disruptions due to warfare, years of drought, and plagues of locusts. A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply Plagues of the Desert Locust ( Schistocerca gregaria) have threatened agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East and Asia
An average African faced annual inflation of over 60% from 1990 until 2002 in those few countries that account for inflation. In economics inflation or price inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services over a period of time At the high end, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo both saw triple-digit inflation throughout the period. Most African states saw inflation of around 10% per year.
There are no reliable numbers for unemployment in most African nations, but it is an important problem. Major cities like Lagos and Kinshasa have large slums of the unemployed and underemployed. Lagos ( pron ˈleɪgɒs or /ˈlɑːgoʊs/ overseas is the most populous Conurbation in Nigeria with Kinshasa (formerly French: Léopoldville, formerly Dutch: Leopoldstad, German: Leopoldstadt) is the Capital A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security
Environmental degradation occurs on many fronts. Farmers on the verge of starvation are unlikely to be concerned about the fate of the rainforest in their pursuit of new land, and starving people do not often consider the rarity of an animal before eating it (see bushmeat). Rainforests are Forests characterized by high Rainfall with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches Bushmeat ( Calque from the French viande de brousse) is the term commonly used for Meat of terrestrial wild animals killed for Along the length of the Sahel, deforestation and overgrazing has caused increased desertification as the Sahara spreads south. Deforestation is the conversion of Forested areas to non-forest land for use such as Arable land, Pasture, urban use logged area or wasteland Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to Livestock Grazing for extended periods of time or without sufficient recovery periods Desertification is the degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting primarily from human activities and influenced by climatic variations Profits from the sale in the West of rare animals, ivory from elephants, and timber encourage illegal poaching. Ivory is formed from Dentine and constitutes the bulk of the Teeth and Tusks of animals such as the Elephant, Hippopotamus, Elephants ( family: Elephantidae) are large land Mammals of the order Proboscidea. Poaching is the illegal Hunting, Fishing or Harvesting of wild plants or animals Local governments have little money to devote to protecting the environment.
Attempts at promoting growth
The relative economic failure of Africa has long been an important issue both in Africa and abroad. Many attempts at solving Africa's poverty have been attempted, but few have had any great degree of success.
Socialism
In the years immediately after independence many nations saw the rapid industrialisations of the Soviet Union and China under communism as models to follow. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based This led to command economies and major investment in heavy industries such as coal and steel production to stimulate growth, but this approach had little success. A planned economy or directed economy is an Economic system in which the Government or Workers' councils manages the Economy. Steel is an Alloy consisting mostly of Iron, with a Carbon content between 0 Only a handful of states formally adopted socialism and even fewer turned to outright Marxism. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Everywhere government intervention in the economy was seen as necessary for growth, especially since private companies and investors were unlikely to invest in the region.
Often the approach of governments in Africa was to borrow heavily from abroad and use this aid to grow the economy to a level that the loans could be paid off. Sporadic growth during the years after independence continued. The countries focused on exports to pay for these development efforts. The 1973 energy crisis hit sub-Saharan Africa as hard as anywhere in the world. The 1973 oil crisis began on October 17 1973 when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC consisting of the Arab members of While some nations were net exporters, most were heavily reliant on imported fuels. Economies quickly began to falter and events such as famines hit Africa in the 1980s. The collapse of the Soviet Union, which had supported socialist and collectivist projects throughout the continent, undermined the legitimacy of such an approach, while it also meant that there were no longer any sources of international aid to help pursue this approach.
- See also: African socialism
Liberalism
Thus in the 1980s, socialist ideas were discarded throughout almost the entire continent as "capitalism" became seen as the route to salvation in what became known as the Washington Consensus. African socialism is a belief in sharing economic resources in a "traditional" African way as distinct from classical Socialism. The term Washington Consensus was initially coined in 1989 by John Williamson to describe a set of ten specific economic policy prescriptions that he considered to constitute By 1990, forty of the nations of Sub-Saharan Africa had agreed to follow rigorous IMF restructuring plans. The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) is an International organization that oversees the Global financial system by following the Macroeconomic IMF recommendations saw the continent's currencies drop by an average of 50%, the selling off of government-owned industries, and the slashing of government spending. After twenty years, however, these methods have seen as little success as the socialist approaches of the previous era. Average growth increased from 2. Economic growth is the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy over time 3% per annum to 2. 8%. Only a handful of African states reached new levels of wealth, and many others became poorer over the course of the 1990s. Today there is a great deal of controversy on why this failed. One school of thought is that the reforms failed because they were only economic in nature and without democracy and the rule of law development cannot occur.
Yet another school of thought attributes some of Africa's problems to insufficient liberalization. It has been pointed out that while the developed world has insisted that Africa open its markets and eliminate public subsidies, this has been one-sided as the developed world has not opened its markets to agricultural goods from Africa nor has it eliminated agricultural subsidies. An agricultural subsidy is a governmental Subsidy paid to Farmers and Agribusinesses to supplement their income manage the supply of agricultural At the GATT free trade talks, the African leaders repeatedly request that the developed nations abolish the subsidies they provide their farmers and open their markets to African agricultural goods. The 'General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade' (typically abbreviated 'GATT' was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization (ITO It has been argued that the abolition of the subsidy would have three beneficial effects for the developing world and Africa:
- The developed nations would produce less food locally, therefore providing a larger export market for developing countries.
- Food prices would rise without the artificial subsidy and therefore would increase profits for food exports from the developing world.
- The developing nations could adopt a more balanced agriculture policy, producing food and grain for export; this would provide a surplus that would shield countries from famine.
- See also: Agricultural policy, Common Agricultural Policy, United States Department of Agriculture, and Agriculture, forestry, and fishing in Japan
Autarky
The pursuit of self-sufficiency as advocated by dependency theory has been given limited trials in several African countries. Agricultural policy describes a set of laws relating to domestic Agriculture and imports of foreign agricultural products The Common Agricultural Policy ( CAP) is a system of European Union Agricultural subsidies and programmes Agriculture forestry and fishing form the Primary sector of industry of the Japanese economy, together with the Japanese mining industry, but together An autarky is an economy that is self-sufficient and does not take part in International trade, or severely limits trade with the outside world Dependency theory is a body of Social science theories both from developed and Developing nations which are predicated on the notion that resources In the 1980s, Nigeria banned the importation of many foodstuffs to stimulate domestic production. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal The Lagos Plan of Action of 1982 called for Africa as a whole to block imports from the rest of the world, but few countries followed through on the idea. The Lagos Plan of Action (officially the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa 1980-2000) was a Organisation of African Unity -backed plan to Eventually even Nigeria agreed to limited liberalization.
Foreign aid
Since independence there has been a constant flow of foreign aid into Africa. Aid (from the french word aide, also known as international aid, overseas aid, or foreign aid, especially in the United States) is The benefits of this aid have been mixed. In many cases much of this aid was misappropriated by unscrupulous leaders. During the Cold War the main goal of much of the aid money was to win the allegiance of these rulers, and so their misappropriation of the aid was at the very least overlooked. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Since the end of the Cold War almost all developed countries have slashed foreign aid spending. Many also allege that the aid that was not stolen was long misdirected. For many decades the leading notion of development was government supervised mega-projects; today many believe that small grants to local businesses would be more effective. One example of foreign aid which has come under considerable criticism is food aid. In some circles, it is believed that food aid does not solve any fundamental problems and can also lead to a dependency on outside assistance, as well as hindering the development of indigenous industries. Food shipments in case of dire local shortage are generally uncontroversial; but as Amartya Sen has shown, most famines involve a local lack of income rather than of food. Amartya Kumar Sen CH (Hon (অমর্ত্য কুমার সেন Ômorto Kumar Shen) (born 3 November 1933) is an Indian In such situations, food aid - as opposed to financial aid - has the effect of destroying local agriculture and serves mainly to benefit Western agribusiness which are vastly overproducing food as a result of agricultural subsidies. An agricultural subsidy is a governmental Subsidy paid to Farmers and Agribusinesses to supplement their income manage the supply of agricultural Historically, food aid is more highly correlated with excess supply in Western countries than with the needs of developing countries.
Debt relief
Advocacy for debt relief has become widespread. Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of Debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth owed by individuals corporations or nations Each year Africa sends more money to Western bankers in interest on its debts than it receives in foreign aid from these countries. Debt relief is not a panacea, but relieving some of the burden, especially of debts that were run up by regimes for their own benefit, may help the economies of Africa grow and prosper. However, arguments against full and unconditional debt relief exist.
First, debt relief punishes nations which have managed borrowing well and do not need debt relief.
Second, unconditional debt relief will not necessarily cause nations to spend more in social programs and services, on the one hand, or to solve their financial problems without stifling the economy with the need for more taxes, on the other hand.
Finally, debt relief may make it more difficult for nations to receive credit in the future.
It has been suggested that any debt relief policy be conditional upon a commensurate reduction in aid. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative was launched in 1996; if implemented, it would greatly affect Africa's economy. Heavily Indebted Poor Countries ( HIPC) are a group of 37 Developing countries with high levels of Poverty and Debt overhang which are eligible [17]
Notes
- ^ Industry and Enterprise: an International Survey of Modernization and Development, Industrial Systems Research Publications, Manchester, 2nd edition, 2003, Chapter 12: "Industry and Enterprise Development In Africa". ISBN 978-0-906321-27-0. [1]
- ^ 'Fast economic growth' in Africa
- ^ African economy 'to expand 6.2%'
- ^ African growth 'steady but frail'
- ^ Source: [2]
- ^ a b Source: [3]
- ^ Source: [4]
- ^ a b (French) INSEE Réunion. INSEE ( French: I nstitut N ational de la S tatistique et des É tudes É conomiques; inse (not) in French is the 11.1 - RÉSULTATS ÉCONOMIQUES. Retrieved on 2008-04-09. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans)
- ^ Source: [5]
- ^ "Mobile growth fastest in Africa".
- ^ "Phone revolution makes Africa upwardly mobile".
- ^ "Africa's cell phone boom creates a base for low-cost banking".
- ^ FAO. AIDS - a threat to rural Africa. Focus on the issues. Retrieved on 26 August 2006.
- ^ Ethnologue.com
- ^ Ethnologue.com
- ^ Wrong, Michela (2005-03-14). Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice. When the money goes west. New Statesman. Retrieved on 2006-08-28. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 475 - The Roman General Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his Capital
- ^ Worldbank.org: HIPC History
References
- Fage, J. D. A History of Africa (Routledge, 4th edition, 2001 ISBN 0-415-25247-4) (Hutchinson, 1978, ISBN 0-09-132851-9) (Knopf 1st American edition, 1978, ISBN 0-394-32277-0)
- Kayizzi-Mugerwa, Steve The African Economy: Policy, Institutions and the Future (Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0-415-18323-5)
- Moshomba, Richard E. Africa in the Global Economy (Lynne Rienner, 2000, ISBN 1-55587-718-4)
- OECD. African Economic Outlook 2006/2007 (OECD, 2007, ISBN 978-92-64-03313-9)
- Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. (Washington: Howard UP, 1982, ISBN 0-88258-096-5)
- Sahn, David E. , Paul A. Dorosh, Stephen D. Younger Structural Adjustment Reconsidered: Economic Policy and Poverty in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-521-58451-5)
External links
- Economy of Africa at the Open Directory Project
- The Age of the Dragon: China's Conquest of Africa
- Africa in the World Economy: the national, regional and international challenges, Jan Joost Teunissen and Age Akkerman (eds. The Open Directory Project ( ODP) also known as dmoz (from directory ), FONDAD, December 2005, book, pdf.
- Africa: Living on the Fringe - Monthly Review. Samir Amin offers a Marxist analysis of Africa's continued economic crisis. Samir Amin ( Arabic: سمير أمين) (born 3 September 1931) is an Egyptian economist Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
- Africa's Failed Economic History - Yale Economic Review
- Lending Africa an Invisible Hand - Yale Economic Review
- BBC: Africa's Economy
- OECD work on African economy
- Africa Economic Analysis
- World Economic Forum - Africa
- African Development Bank Group
- IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) -- September 2003 -- Public Debt in Emerging Markets
- Language and Africa
- Africa's economy: A glimmer of light at last? - The Economist
- Africa and the Knowledge Economy - World Bank Institute report. The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London The World Bank Institute is the Capacity development branch of the World Bank.
- Economic analysis of Middle Africa
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic