CQGR Booming Africa
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NOV. 20, 2012 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 22 PAGES 521-548 WWW.GLOBALRESEARCHER.COM Booming Africa IS AN EAST ASIA-STYLE BOOM UNDER WAY? nce considered hopeless, much of sub-Saharan Africa is booming. Seven of the world’s 10 fastest- growing economies currently are in Africa. High prices for the continent’s oil and mineral exports have brought a surge of government revenue and investment, but the growth is occurring in O commodity-poor countries as well. Better governance, less war and the rapid spread of cell phones and other communication technologies are fostering growth even in nations with few natural resources. Debt for - giveness and the rise of China, India and other emerging markets as trading partners and sources of investment also have spurred economies forward. Demographers say that with the continent’s working-age population projected to expand by a third by 2020, Africa could benefit from a “demographic dividend” that would fuel sustained economic growth, even as populations in developed coun - tries and Asia are growing older. Yet, the population boom also poses challenges: Africa’s economies must provide enough jobs for the growing number of workers with expectations of a better life. Construction cranes punctuate the skyline of Luanda, Angola’s capital, where a building boom is being financed in part by high world prices for the country’s oil exports. As in other oil-exporting African countries, a flood of petro-dollars has fueled Angola’s robust growth — more than 14 percent annually in recent years — despite a sluggish global economy. PUBLISHED BY CQ PRESS, AN IMPRINT OF SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. WWW.CQPRESS.COM BOOMING AFRICA THE ISSUES Africa Among Fastest- 525 Growing Regions • Can African economies Growth of African output is Nov. 20, 2012 523 diversify away from natural second only to Asia’s. Volume 6, Number 22 resource production? Miners’ Strike Deepens MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch • Can Africa provide 526 [email protected] enough jobs for its fast- South Africa’s Woes growing population? Vast gulf between rich and CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Thomas J. Billitteri poor bedevils the economy. [email protected]; Thomas J. Colin • Is Africa about to under - [email protected] go an East Asia-style boom? Poor Governance Hinders 528 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Brian Beary, Africa’s Progress Roland Flamini, Sarah Glazer, Reed Karaim, BACKGROUND Foreign investors are wary Rob ert Kiener, Jina Moore, Jennifer Weeks about investing in Africa’s 532 Colonialism industrialization. SENIOR PROJECT EDITOR: Olu B. Davis European rule undermined ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa African economies. Africa’s Workforce to 529 Surpass All Others FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris Independence and Working-age population 535 Stagnation could exceed 1 billion by Independent countries faced 2040. huge economic challenges. Chronology 533 Key events since 1807. African “Renaissance” An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. 537 Most African countries have The High Cost of Nigeria’s 534 VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, embraced market reforms. Fuel Subsidy HIGHER EDUCATION GROUP: Love of low-cost fuel costs Michele Sordi dearly. CURRENT SITUATION DIRECTOR, ONLINE PUBLISHING: 536 Rapid Oil Exploitation Todd Baldwin Hope and Change Fuels Africa’s Boom 537 African economies are Oil production rose faster Copyright © 2012 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE changing. than in any other region. Publications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright and other rights herein, unless pre vi ous ly spec - At Issue i fied in writing. No part of this publication may 539 Is Africa poised for an East be reproduced electronically or otherwise, OUTLOOK Asia-style economic boom? without prior written permission. Un au tho rized re pro duc tion or trans mis sion of SAGE copy right - Chinese Challenges 541 548 Voices from Abroad ed material is a violation of federal law car ry ing State-owned Chinese Headlines and editorials from civil fines of up to $100,000. companies are competing around the world. aggressively in Africa. CQ Press is a registered trademark of Con - gressional Quarterly Inc. FOR FURTHER RESEARCH CQ Global Researcher is printed on acid-free paper. SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Pub lished twice monthly, except: (Jan. wk. 5) (May 544 For More Information wk. 5) (July wk. 5) (Oct. wk. 5). Published by A Continent on the Rise Organizations to contact. SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand 524 Seventeen countries are Oaks, CA 91320. Annual full-service subscriptions Bibliography start at $575. 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Cover: AFP/Getty Images/Stephane de Sakutin 522 CQ Global Researcher Booming Africa BY JASON MCLURE a five-screen cinema; in the THE ISSUES high-tech, deep-water oil drilling platforms off Ango - ust two decades ago, la’s coast; and in the sharp destitute Mozambique reductions in infant mortality J could have been the in countries such as Ethiopia poster child for the eco - and Rwanda. nomic basket case t hat was Analysts bullish on the con - much of sub-Saharan Africa. tinent’s future see indications More than a million people that sub-Saharan Africa is set had died in a 17-year civil war, for a sustained period of eco - and up to a third of its 15 nomic growth that could million people had fled their raise many of its countries to homes. With much of its middle-income status. “Africa farmland sown with land - could be on the brink of an mines, the country had to im - economic takeoff, much like port grain to feed itself. And China was 30 years ago and the war’s $15 billion cost — India 20 years ago,” said a about seven times Mozam - recent World Bank report. 4 bique’s annual economic out - The growth is attributable put — had virtually bank - in part to a boom in oil rev - t 1 r rupted the country. a enues stemming from high d Today, the Texas-sized d global prices and increased pro - o t S country bordering the Indi - duction in petro-states such as m o an Ocean is rising from the T Angola, Chad and Equatorial / s ashes. Newly built resorts e Guinea. Yet, significantly, be - g a offer $600-a-night rooms m tween 1996 and 2008 a star I y t along the 1,550-mile coast - t group of 17 emerging African e line. Vast coal deposits and G economies produced per capi - the discovery of natural gas A young mineworker in South Kivu province in the Democratic ta income growth of more reserves twice the size of Saudi Republic of Congo (DRC) helps to extract cassiterite and coltan, than 2 percent per year — and valuable minerals used to manufacture sophisticated electronics. Arabia’s could make Mozam - More than 90 percent of the DRC’s export income comes from another seven nearly reached bique one of the world’s largest diamonds, minerals and oil, leaving the economy vulnerable to that milestone, which econo - energy exporters in the next fluctuations in global prices. Many African countries are trying to mists say is a significant mea - decade, and a new aluminum become less dependent on such commodity exports. sure of rapidly rising living smelter is one of the biggest standards. None of the 24 coun - in the world. ago. As recently as 2000, The Econ - tries were oil exporters. Mozambique’s turnaround has been omist labeled Africa “the hopeless con - “Thailand in 1960 looks a lot like mirrored across much of sub-Saharan tinent.” The misperception “represents Ethiopia or the Democratic Republic of Africa, where per capita income has . a chasm between perception and Congo today,” says Susan Lund, di - risen 132 percent over the past 15 years. reality,” said a report this year from rector of research at the McKinsey Seven of the world’s 10 fastest-gr owing Ernst & Young, an international ac - Global Institute, a subsidiary of the economies currently are in sub-Saharan counting firm. 3 “The facts tell a dif - international consulting firm. “South Africa, which is projected to grow by ferent story — one of reform, progress Korea in 1965 looks like Senegal, Tan - 5.3 percent next year, compared with and growth.” zania or Ghana. When you look back - 2.1 percent in the United States and The fruits of Africa’s recent growth wards you think Africa could capture 0.2 percent in eurozone countries, ac - are visible across the continent: in the this potential.” cording to the International Monetary polished marble floors of the 205,000- And while it may seem far-fetched Fund (IMF). 2 square-foot Accra Mall, an American- to compare Africa’s rise to that of Yet many outside of Africa still think style complex in Ghana’s capital city emerging economic giants like India, of the continent as it was 20 years featuring Apple and Nike stores and China or Brazil, consider the following: www.globalresearcher.com Nov. 20, 2012 523 BOOMING AFRICA than India’s, and six sub-Saharan coun - A Continent on the Rise tries have greater income per capita than China. 7 In the past 20 years, 17 sub-Saharan countries are experiencing what some • While African countries are con - are calling an African Renaissance.