Why Africa can not reach sustained development. What kind of Future for Africa.

Résumé du document

Africa, a continent endowed with immense natural and human resources as well as great cultural, ecological and economic diversity, remains underdeveloped for many years. Almost all the African nations suffered (and still suffer) from military dictatorships, corruption, civil unrest and war, underdevelopment and deep poverty. It is important to remember that the majority of the countries are classified by the UN as least developed are in Africa. Numerous development strategies have failed to yield the expected results. Although some believe that the continent is doomed to perpetual poverty and economic slavery, Africa has immense potential. It is important to record that Central Africa is an area larger than the entire Europe. These are the main reasons why I decided to make a paper about the problems that Africa, as a big Continent is facing.

Extraits

[...] Today the debts are also growing because many countries can not pay their loans being obliged to ask new one's to pay the previous ones. Table.5 External Debt Indicators For Developing Countries 1998-2000 Although SSA's external debt is high in relation to GNP and export earnings, the debt service ratio is relatively low because of the concessional nature of a large proportion of this debt. However, the debt- service ratio deteriorated in the 1990s, and at the beginning of the new millennium it remained above the ratios observed in East Asia and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. [...]

[...] However, the African leaders and their advisers did not understand that such a trend was only the result of the technical progress. Technical progress brings substitutes and results in a lower relative price for primary goods and increases relative prices for goods including knowledge. The only way to improve terms of trade for countries based on primary commodities would have been to quickly diversify and develop commerce and services. Instead of doing that, African countries remained stuck to raw materials and primary products and took the habit to attribute their failures to some external conspiracy such as the deterioration of the terms of trade. [...]

[...] Another effect that the N.R dependence may induce is the exposure to price shocks. Prices of most N.R are highly volatile. In addition to these political effects, N.R can have directly damaging economic effects. The classic economic analysis is ‘Dutch disease[1]': natural resource exports replace other exports. In economic terms, if we have a short-time vision this is an efficient response. Because the society is richer, it needs to produce more of the goods and services that cannot be imported, and these are produced with the resources released by the now-redundant export sector. [...]

[...] Paul Collier, formerly the head of the World Bank's development research group, now a professor at Oxford University and one of the strongest proponents of this theory, says, “ethnic tensions and ancient political feuds are not starting civil wars around the world—economic forces such as entrenched poverty and the trade in natural resources are the true culprits. The solution? Curb rebel financing, jump-start economic growth in vulnerable regions, and provide a robust military presence in nations emerging from conflict.” 5. AID IS NOT HELPING AFRICA "The Best way to help Africa is to leave it alone"[2]. Aid does not and cannot develop any society. Development must be the direct result of people's efforts to take control of their own destiny. If Africans do not take care of themselves, who is going to do that? [...]

[...] Table.3 Sub-Saharan Africa data profile Source: World Bank With 640 millions inhabitants, its GDP only represents of the world domestic product and ranks behind the Netherlands. It is the only continent to have grown poorer in the past 25 years, despite the explosion of technology and trade that has boosted incomes in other regions. Not even Africans want to invest in Africa: an estimated 40% of the continent's privately held wealth is stashed offshore. One justification for Africa being so poor today is the government”. [...]