Africa is wealthy in oil, diamond, gold, and a whole lot of other fancied natural resources. However the continent has not figured out how to benefit from its riches; the economies of countries in the continent are small and unsophisticated, it is infrastructurally underdeveloped, and its people waste away in poverty. Regardless of hopeful development lately, Africa, which has over 15% of the world’s population, offers under 3% to the world’s GDP, yet rich in natural resources, is wallowing in abject poverty. The United Nations Human Development Indicators, including education, standards of living, and health, indicate very low scores for most African nations. The score of governance of African countries was gathered by a reputable organization such as the Transparency International, Foreign Policy magazine, and Economist Intelligence Unit was also very low. Angola is a typical case of this problem.
As these countries which are rich in natural resources wrestle with terrible output, it is no big surprise that there is a lot of discussion about the resource curse of Africa. In any case, the curse is obviously avoidable. Many countries in Africa are examining various methods of redirecting a majority of asset-incomes into the public coffers. There are several proposals by various nations to resolve this problem, which incorporate introducing new state-owned enterprises and nationalization of organizations to different tax collection schemes. As anyone might expect, encounters from different nations show that the best schemes are those that incorporate the private businesses, because they give a steady political environment and policy, and offer better and more attractive possibilities.
In Africa, there is a high level of corruption looming over local administrations and bad governance. To turn Africa’s resources into social wealth, countries need to adopt policies to address bad governance and corruption in these countries. Because this would go a long way towards guaranteeing that all the citizens enjoy the benefits of the country’s natural resources, not just a few high-ranking individuals, or people in power. A good administration leads to long-term growth in managing the country’s natural assets and distribution of the country’s wealth in general. Can the DRC and other African nations successfully flip the situation?
South Africa too is one of the African countries which is rich in natural resources, yet a majority of its citizens still wallow in poverty, which is one of the things that sparked xenophobic attacks in the country because impoverished citizens felt that hard-working foreigners were taking from them. This would not be the case if citizens benefited from the wealth of the country given that it is endowed with so much gold and other natural resources. For the administration to explore ways to turn resource wealth to social wealth, they would have to put in place various policies for mining in the country which will benefit its citizens as well. This makes it the best time to trade gold in South Africa as the administration is looking for more secure ways to trade and manage natural resources in the country.
Oil-rich Angola
Angola is one of the richest countries in oil production in Africa. It is one of the most discussed investment targets in Africa. However, at the back of the economic growth, there is a ruined and disappointed population of troubled people with the most corrupt social situations on the African continent, which has left the country the condition that it is in today.
10 years after Angola rose up out of the disastrous common war, the streets in front of the ocean around its capital, Luanda, is presently spotted with multi-million dollar apartment suites, select clubs, and boutique stores taking care of the nation’s first-class. A large portion of Luanda’s population still lives in the ghettos, where there are no health facilities or the luxuries enjoyed by the rich in Luanda. In the clumps, kids must work instead of going to school and studying, just to make ends meet or for survival. Definitely, some African countries have developed from their natural resources. However, most Africans have still not benefited from these resources. All the more critically, quick development in population together with inequality in the standards of living could be hazardous one day.
It doesn’t need to be like this, obviously. Botswana effectively utilized its precious stone riches to grow rapidly, developing from perhaps the most unfortunate nation after freedom in 1966 into an upper-center income, stable, and democratic nation. However, nations, like Liberia and Ghana are also taking remarkable steps towards better management of their various natural resources lately. Since increasing worldwide interest keeps the prices of exports high and new research uncovering bigger reserves than what was recorded, the African continent stands to garner massive benefits from its natural resources. The main problem now for the continent is to convert these riches into substantial profits for the continent’s citizens.
Africa’s natural resources for all
The current year’s progress report for Africa suggests measures with the goal that more Africans can profit from the minerals in their oceans and under their soil. Among the suggestions for African politicians, the global communities, and the private division, there were five significant subjects that were developed to ensure that African citizens benefited from the continent’s resources. To begin with, from income streams to organization proprietorship, transparency is vital since it lessens the possibility for corruption. Global efforts, like, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, have brought genuine advancement, and African governments, like, Ghana, Liberia, and Guinea are progressively distributing contracts on the internet with regards to this. However, there is still a lot to do.
The main way through which international communities can assist in reducing this inequality in Africa and to avoid issues of tax evasion and activities of unknown shell organizations that encourage corruption, they need to reveal who they are making payments for resources to. By so doing, it will be easy to track the individuals misappropriating the country or the continent’s resources for their personal benefits. This is a worldwide problem that requires international solutions.
The report investigated a few deals from various countries, one of which cost the Democratic Republic of the Congo a whopping US$1.36 billion through organized undervaluation and sale of state-owned natural resources to anonymous clients. These losses were equivalent to twice the country’s accumulated budget for the 2012 fiscal year for education and health in a nation that has extreme levels of poverty and malnutrition in the world. It ranked the world’s 6th most noteworthy country for high death rates in children, with over more than 7,000,000 kids not going to school.
