Why Is Africa so Poor?

¶ … Africa so Poor? Why is it that Africa, despite the aid and help and support that she gets from different sources all over the world, is still very much impoverished and in a state of poverty even now? It is a fact that this continent has been availing of outside help and has also been a site where numerous large-scale experiments have been performed over the years in order to improve and reform its economy for its innate betterment, but it has still remained in the same condition in which it has been existing all these pats few centuries.

The truth is that none of the above experiments have been able to succeed in achieving a sustained and continuous economic growth in Africa and this has also led to the astonishing fact that most African three dozen nations are, today, even poorer than they were during the 1980's.

It is also a fact that only Uganda and Botswana have been able to demonstrate a growth rate that actually exceeds three percentage per annum since the year 1980, and even more shocking and sad is the fact that more than two thirds of all the African countries have been in a state of stagnation and, in some cases, shrunk in real per capita terms from the time of their Independence in the years of the 1960's.

(Why is Africa so poor?) One main reason that is often stated as being the cause of the failure of economic reform in Africa is that the 'market-based policies', that are also known as the 'Washington Consensus', that served as the basis of the experiments that were carried out on Africa were all fatally flawed, in that they all made the assumption that economic reforms would be able to create efficient markets even without attempting to reform, simultaneously, the various political institutions of the country, that needed urgent reforms, were the economic reforms that were being carried out to be successful to any extent.

In addition, the fact that without a real limit on the government, and the guarantee of personal liberty and also of property rights to the individual, an 'efficient market' would not exist at all.

Therefore, it can be said that if a market were to function effectively, then the organizations within the country must be able to enforce their contracts and their property rights to some extent; the absence of an enforcer would automatically mean that the result would ultimately be a virtual 'free for all' wherein everyone would be aware of the fact that everyone else would behave in an opportunistic manner, and therefore, everyone indulges in opportunistic behavior. Perfect examples of this type of behavior are Congo and Liberia.

This means that an enforcer, who has among his duties the enforcement of property rights and other contracts, must be also able to force people involved to adhere to the decisions that have been made by him. The enforcer is generally the government, and when the government does not function at its optimum best, and then there would definitely be trouble for the people of the country.

Therefore, even though the connection between the government and the market may not be one of the best, but the basic concept is that any government that is strong enough to expropriate and ensure the wealth and the prosperity of its citizens, then they would not only need a lot of revenue and resources for their political development, but must also serve in politically crucial and important constituencies.

Most of the time, governments have the tendency to exchange political support with monopoly rights, or for basic protection form competition, or for gaining special privileges of any kind. This means that when a plan for economic reform must be met with a certain modicum of success, it must make sure of channeling governments into the support of markets, and make sure that their innate nature of wariness and predatoriness is gotten rid of.

(Why is Africa so poor?) The 'Economic Report on Africa, 2003', states that the economic performance of Africa fell short of all expectations in the year 2002, when growth slowed from a rate of 4.3% in the year 2001 to the rate of 3.2% in the year 2002, and of all the countries in Africa, numbering 55, only 5 countries were able to achieve the 7% growth rate that was required to be met according to the Millennium Development Goals that had been outlined earlier.

This sort of weak performance only goes to demonstrate an innately weak global economy as well as a very slow rebound in the world trade. Other factors that contributed to the weak economy were the facts of disease like AIDS, malaria, and the presence of drought in a large number of countries. In addition, there were political and armed conflicts in many parts of Africa, and this led to further weakening.

However, what must be remembered is the fact that certain well-managed economies with solid and firm agendas were able to perform very well; like for example, Mozambique showed a growth rate of 12%, which is a fast and rapid growth. (Economic Report on Africa, 2003) The most recent analyses of economic growth in Africa demonstrate the fact that the economic progress of Africa has not been given due significance and it shows that the production technology has been lagging in this aspect.

Malaria, a terrible disease caused by mosquitoes, is one of the deadliest diseases found in the African continent, and this disease imposes one of the highest economic costs, directly as well as indirectly, on several already struggling and poorer countries of the world, including Africa. Some of the earliest recorded cases of malaria state that malaria was found to have occurred in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth centuries.

Malaria has been proved to be a severe inhibitor of the economic growth of the country, because of the high costs that the governments had to incur to diagnose and to treat the deadly disease.

(The Economic Costs of Malaria in South Africa) Therefore, it can be stated that the control of malaria and its very containment would significantly tax the country in which it has occurred, and the WHO or the World Health Organization has claimed, along with Harvard University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, that when malaria is controlled within the country, then it would not only increase the productivity of the country but would also increase, to significant levels, the income of several African families.

All the evidence points to the fact that malaria serves to block the economic growth of the country, and from the year 1990 onwards, GDP per person in many sub-Saharan African countries has been on a steady decline, and malaria would explain this type of dismal performance.

(Economic costs of malaria are many times higher than previously estimated) Africa is known as the world's poorest continent, and though it has been widely accepted that it has been lagging behind in all spheres for the pats many generations due to a large variety of reasons, deadly diseases like malaria and AIDS among them, it is now said that there is indeed hope for Africa.

This is because of the fact that many countries in Africa are showing a tendency of better economic growth and progress today, than the older days. This betterment reflects to a large extent the fact that there is now a better implementation of social and structural as well as economic reforms, and these reforms are bringing about this change.

Domestic and external financial imbalances have all been cut down or eliminated in these countries, and this has contributed in no small measure to the economic efficiency of the countries that have started to change. Health care is now being given the priority it deserves, and this has also come to mean that the public spending on health care issues has been increased to a large extent.

Education, and other such social services have now taken a front seat of priority, and there has aloes been noticed a growing tendency towards open and cooperative and participatory types of government that generally encourage cooperation between the state and the civil societies.

(Promoting Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa) Be what it may, the situation in the sub-Saharan regions remains, however, completely unchanged, and this means that it remains in a very fragile and susceptible state wherein domestic and external shocks of varying intensities end up affecting the area very badly, and it has a long way to go before it can even hope to recover a part of the ground that it has lost over the numerous years of unrest and turbulence and shocks.

Economic growth may be on the increase in some of these parts, but the fact that poverty remains a huge drawback cannot be ignored, and it is this poverty and poor economic condition that have contributed to the fact that investments in these areas has remained quite subdued, and this also means that the various economic structures within the state cannot be diversified even to a very small extent in a way that would bolster and boots up the growth of the country.

What adds to this is the fact that the country has a history of long drawn out conflicts and civil wars, and these civil wars do tend to slow down and even arrest the growth and development of the African continent. While armed conflict is contained in one area, the same would inevitably erupt in another area, and this phenomenon will not stop unless strict measures are taken to stop it.

Poor weather conditions, deterioration and a decrease in the trade of the country, combined with this type of domestic conflict have all contributed to the loss of a good economic momentum in the country, especially in the past few years.

(Promoting Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa) How can the geography of Africa be used in order to solve at least a part of the problems that the country is facing today, if possible? How can the African government use economic policies in its effort to strengthen its participation in the global economy in a way that would quite naturally being about a sustained and a widespread growth to the country in a way that would be beneficial to the peoples of Africa? To start with, the government must make a comprehensive list of all the factors that they would address in their efforts to realize all the opportunities and the challenges that are put forth by globalization.

These factors must be generally based on the several different issues like: the various different trends in the globalization process, and all the ways and means that they would end up affecting Africa, the issue of the economic development in recent years that Africa has been demonstrating, in relation to the general economic performance, and also its external performance.

(Strengthening Africa's participation in the Global Economy) Another important factor is that of a close review of all the factors that have in essence contributed to the marginalization of Africa's economic development, and also of all the numerous structural adjustments that it had been putting in over the past few decades.

Finally, among the recommended assessments, is the review of all the various political lessons that are contained in the very impressive performance of South East Asia over the past thirty years, and the Asian economic crisis, and the various lessons to be leant from that particular crisis too. The truth is that the globalization of the world economy has become one of the most important factors that affect the present environment of economic development.

(Strengthening Africa's participation in the Global Economy) Globalization offers quite a few poorer countries all over the world an opportunity and a good chance to accelerate and speed up their economic growth and development, and also at the same time, to take up quite a few challenges for the economic management of their countries and its economy. The main and primary indicators of the globalization of a country and its success are the factors of international trade, capital flows, and foreign direct investment.

If and when the rate of the growth of each of these factors is found to be faster than the growth of the overall growth output of the world, then it could be taken as being a success.

The hitch herein is the fact that the risks that arise must be managed extremely well, so that the rate of growth does not slow down in any way, and this invariably means that the nature of the various forces that drive the global economy, and the presence of any of these factors in the African economy must be studied well before any sort of analysis can be drawn.

There are, in fact, a whole lot of factors that inevitable drive forward the economy of a nation, and these are: the rapid advances in transportation and communication that have inevitably resulted in the decrease in the costs of moving around the goods and the money and the people needed to conduct the business.

The second factor is that of the fact that globalization immediately brings to mind the expanding geographic aspect of the business, and the third factor is that there is an increased extent of the integration of markets of goods and services and other business activities all across the globe, and this also means that the fact of production is also extended across all borders, and this means that it would cross all national borders and contribute to international integration to a certain extent.

Fourth, it is concerned with a certain high degree of uniformity of policy where institutional environments that set the rules for the basic integration and interaction between and of national economies are concerned. The very interaction of all the factors has led to the fact that there is an exaggerated and an accentuated tendency of the global world economy to integrate with other economies.

It seems to be a realistic idea to assume that in spite off all the initial turbulence to the contrary, this particular trend of integration and interaction would continue over the neat few decades.

(Strengthening Africa's participation in the Global Economy) As far as the issue of health is concerned, where is Africa headed and how is the factor of health important in solving at least a part of the current crisis that Africa is undergoing at the present time? Many young Africans today share the worldview that their country must be improved and the economic growth of Africa in the long-term, and a better future for all Africans of tomorrow must be developed and sustained over the next few years.

The fact is that the problems that all Africans are faced with are so very manifold and numerous that this in itself is an extremely complex issue that must be studied and explored fully before any type of conclusions can be drawn. The preferred future, according to the 14 authors of the book entitled 'Brighter Visions for Africa', is, as unanimously agreed upon by all the authors, is that of a free and a prosperous Africa in the future.

This can be achieved, according to the various authors, by combining and effectively blending global as well as certain local approaches to the problems, and also combining all the modern and traditional values of the present generation, and then going about the attempt to solve the various problems facing African economy and youth today.

(Brighter Visions for Africa) The first and the most important step to take, according to the authors, is to quit laying the blame for anything that had happened in Africa over the past centuries on the Western parts of the world, and on the factor of colonialism and always playing and assuming the role of the victim, and that of the oppressed, since all the above would only be extremely counter productive and also totally disempowering; if, on thee other hand, Africans were to show more spirit of independence and demonstrate a free will and spirit, then a large part of the problem would be solved.

This would mean that the problems of economic incompetence and political suppression that Africa had been facing would be at least solved to a partial extent. A low attainment of health and education is also one of the main causes for the weakness and the lack of development being demonstrated by Africa, and if these too were to be faced and resolved to some extent, then Africa would be able to begin its progress towards a better future very soon.

(Brighter Visions for Africa) The fact is that underdevelopment in Africa is nothing new; it has been in existence from time immemorial, from the eighteenth century at the latest.

In fact, all the Union Nations Member States have all pledged that extreme hunger and poverty that exist in Africa must be eradicated, and that women would be educated, and that at least primary education on a universal level would be achieved, and that there would be gender equality, and also that child mortality rates would be improved, and that maternal health would be improved to a large extent, and also that diseases such as malaria, AIDS, and other diseases would be treated and ultimately prevented in an effective manner by the end of the year 2015.

In addition, environmental sustainability would also be achieved, they pledged, and this would mean that Africa would be eligible to participate in matters of global interest and diversity. Development would be speeded up, and Africa would be able to progress both economically and politically to a certain extent.

Though the huge debt burden that Africa faces at the present time may prompt some individuals to state that these are all extremely lofty and highly unachievable ideals, it may be worth a serious attempt in order to help the African continent from extreme poverty and ill health and a decreased development on all sides.

(Africa's Development Crisis) How can an investment in Human Capital be proved to be important in solving the current crisis that Africa is undergoing? Some important studies that were carried out by Adebayo Adedeji and other economists at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa at Addis Ababa, named the 'African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustments Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation' was originally intended to be a good alternative to the various orthodox ideas that were prescribed by certain international agencies such as, for example, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and was vetoed as acceptable by a majority of nations across the world, except for the United States of America.

Since it is a fact that Africa as a nation has been undergoing one of the worst crises ever, from the early 1980's onwards, it is not surprising that many factors have contributed to this, especially the fact that Africa is one of the poorest nations anywhere in the world.

In fact, it is Africa that has the largest percentages of poor countries all over the world, and out of the 42 least developed countries all over the world, also known as 'LDCs' Africa has, in fact, 29 countries of the poorest of the poor.

(African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation) Africa, also being one of the few continents of the world whose economic production per person has been actually on the decline ever since the 1980's, as demonstrated by the fact that the per capita output and income in Africa fell from $752 to $613 in the year 1988, and has been decreasing steadily ever since that time.

Added to this is the fact that Africa has always been depending on primitive types of technology for the purpose of harvesting their crops, and has also been depending on rainfall for the purpose of irrigation of their fields has led to the phenomenon of a failure off crops again and again, because if the rainfall fails one year, there is drought that year, and if there is excess rainfall, then there will be flooding and also famine.

This means that Africa would be subjected to famine and drought and floods again and again, and this would result in the ultimate and inevitable failure of crops, over and over again.

Since Africa is a country that is very much dependent on imports, of not only capital, but also of skilled labor, and of spare parts, and of technology, and also of entrepreneurial and managerial skills, it is inevitable that all these imported skills would be quite scarce and unavailable at all times, and this would also result in the under development of the nation, as the required skills to finish a job successfully would not be easily available.

In addition, Africa is a country that has many other smaller states within the continent that have a very small number of people as its citizens, that is, the population in these states would be miniscule, and therefore, the labor and the capital generated from theses states would be negligent, if at all. This also becomes a major contributing factor towards the social and the economic crisis that Africa is facing at the present time, and ever since the 1980's.

How can Africa get out of this severe crisis and start to formulate and follow a plan that would not only help in the economic development of the country but would also help in the betterment of the lives of the poor people of Africa? In fact, it is widely recognized that the very structure of the African economy is basically at fault for this type of persistent crisis that never leaves.

This structure not only makes Africa keep on producing certain commodities that it invariably does not need, nor will it ever need, because African people seldom, if ever consume these particular commodities that Africa seems to produce in abundance. At the same time, Africa inevitably ends up depending on other people for producing what Africans actually need. This only denotes the deep-seated dependency that Africa is submerged in, and the lack of any sort of self-reliance.

This sort of structure is more oriented towards import and export, and not on self-production and self-consumption. (African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation) Some of the other glaringly obvious defects that are found in the African economy are the following: the very predominance of subsistence activities with the African people being able to produce just about enough to guarantee their own survival and nothing else.

The base for the production of these goods is also seen as being very small, and this means there are absolutely no linkages within it, and this also means that extremely backward and outdated technology and machinery is used for the purpose of production, and there are no modern and technologically advanced machines used by the Africans. There is in existence a large informal sector within the continent of Africa, and this does not contribute in nay manner towards the benefit of the entire economy of Africa.

The environment has become totally degraded and unusable for any sort of cultivation and even for the rearing of livestock, and this means that large chunks of land remain unusable and barren over long periods of time, and no one bothers with any type of repair work on this land. This means that more and more land in Africa has become arid and uncultivable and unusable, and the environment is also totally degraded, and this means that the economy of Africa would most definitely suffer as a direct result.

Public policies also demonstrate a severe urban bias, and this has led to a lopsided development in Africa, wherein the concentration is on urban Africa and never on rural. African economy is also concentrated in smaller markets, and there is openness and an excessive amount of dependence of the economy on external factors like external inputs and so on. In addition, the weak institutional capabilities that are demonstrated by African organizations also contribute to the national crisis that Africa is undergoing at the present time.

The social structure of Africa are also contributing factors to the ever present and persistent economic crisis, and one of the primary reasons is that Africa is deeply rooted in the several different types of social differentiations that are related to gender, language, the ancestral origins of the people of Africa, blood relations that exist in a particular clan of the people, and the various clans and other differences that are present among the people of Africa.

(African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation) All these factors serve to influence the very social mobilization that is needed for the betterment and the social development of these people, and also on the effective and efficient management of the economy of the country, and on the effective functioning of national institutions. All these factors have an adverse impact on political stability and on the very social and political structure of Africa in general.

Another major cause for the numerous problems being faced by the people of Africa is the political environment of the country. This means that all the basic rights that people elsewhere in the world often take for granted, like for example, individual freedom, the right to vote, and the right to political involvement are all denied to the average African citizen, and this does indeed have an adverse impact on the democratic participation of these unfortunate people.

However, the fact is that, without these rights, the people of Africa often feel denied and deprived, and this invariably has the result of them not being able to concentrate their energies and their skills on the development and the productivity that must go on at all times to ensure that the nation does not stagnate. Injustices are a norm in Africa, and this does not matter to the people of Africa in the same way that, for example, a citizen in any part of the world would be affected.

This would mean that progress in any field at all would be impossibility, and what is often the case is that there is innate lethargy,.