Short Overview of African Countries
running, Africa's GDP has grown faster than its population, reversing the
falling living standards of the previous 15 years. While growth trends for
the region as a whole remain depressed, some African countries are doing
well. Fourteen countries have grown on average by 4 percent a year during
the 1990s, with rising annual incomes of 2-3 percent and even higher, with
another 10 countries following close behind with growth rates above 3
percent a year. Some countries have grown at 7 percent a year or higher
(Mozambique, 7 percent, and Uganda, 7.1 percent). "These figures show us
that economic reforms over recent years have slowly but surely improved
growth in many African countries and allowed the private sector to take
root," says Alan Gelb, Chief Economist of the World Bank's Africa region.
"However, despite this rising trend, countries are still vulnerable to
conflict and external shocks in world markets, such as the recent rapid
increase in oil prices and fallout from the East Asia crisis. These two
forces have together produced highly unfavorable terms of trade for oil
importers."
Now shortly about the social indicators. Although life expectancy has
risen slightly in Africa, this is happening at a slower rate than elsewhere
and, since 1990 the HIV/AIDS epidemic has caused it to decline, especially
in countries with high adult infection rates. In Zimbabwe, for example,
life expectancy has fallen by five years, while in Botswana, it has fallen
by over ten. Life Expectancy at birth is ranging between 37 year (Sierra
Leonne) and 71.8 year (Seychelles). The rule is that Africans living in
countries beset by conflict are more likely to have shorter life expectancy
at birth and have higher infant mortality rates than other more stable
countries. Sierra Leone is a striking illustration of this trend with the
region's lowest life expectancy rate at just 37 years, and its highest
infant mortality rate at 169 deaths per one thousand. Child mortality is a
particularly acute problem for many countries in Africa. Infant mortality
is close to 10 percent, and on average 151 of every 1,000 children die
before the age of 5, although in many countries the mortality rate exceeds
200 per 1,000. Illiteraci level is extremelly high for the whole territory
of Africa. Population per physician oscillates in the following range
lowest: 827 (Seychelles), highest: 53986 (Niger). There’s no use to say
that population per hospital bed is also in very poor condition. Despite
major strides that had been made in the eradication of malaria, the disease
is on the rise again throughout Africa. Elsewhere in the world HIV/AIDS is
on the decline. In Africa, HIV/AIDS has reached pandemic proportions,
threatening to wipe out Africa’s fragile social and economic gains. Two-
thirds of the world’s 34 million AIDS sufferers are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Today in 21 African countries more than 7 percent of adults live with
HIV/AIDS, with the highest absolute number of cases found in South Africa,
where one in every five adults has contracted the virus. Countries like
Niger, Sudan, and Mauritania, which have some of the lowest incidence of
AIDS in the region, offer great potential for control.Yet as countries like
Senegal and Uganda show, with the necessary political will and resources,
the AIDS pandemic can be rolled back. A little bit better situaion is
observed in the sphere of education. The new report shows that Africa has
made more progress in education than in health with literacy rates
improving for both men and women. At 41 percent, the illiteracy rate in the
region is still high compared to rest of the world, but it is at its lowest
point ever. Of particular significance is the advance being made in girls'
education. While this represents welcome progress, far more needs to be
done. Half of Africa's children of school going age are out of school; this
is even lower in rural areas and among girls.
The statistical data may vary depending on source due to the
insufficent automatization of statistical institutions of the region.
That’s why World Bank approved a grant to transfer systems to six Southern
African countries (Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Tanzania,
and Zambia) to strengthen their statistical reporting capabilities. "The
quality of development data depends on the source. Our goal is to empower
statistical offices in Africa, and help them to move from hand-written
National Account tables to a modern system that is easy to adopt, maintain,
and capable of delivering quality data," says Ziad Badr, the team leader of
African Development Indicators 2001, and a senior World Bank economist in
its Africa region. "This will bring statistical institutions in Africa into
the new millennium, and provide a reliable system to measure development
progress and identify remaining challenges."
In summary, macro balances, or getting the prices right, is not
economic reform just as casting a ballot is not democracy. The hallmarks of
a capable state are strong institutions of governance; a sharp focus on the
needs of the poor; powerful watchdogs; the rule of law; intolerance of
corruption; transparency and accountability in the management of public
affairs; respect for human rights; participation by all citizens in the
decisions that affect their lives; as well as the creation of an enabling
environment for the private sector and civil society.
4. Economic organizations in Africa
The main economic power of Africa south of the Sahara Desert is South
African Republic. Through its well developed infrastructure and deepwater
ports, South Africa handles much of the trade for the whole southern
African region. In 1970 its immediate neighbours, Botswana, Swaziland and
Lesotho, and latterly Namibia, signed the Southern African Customs Union
(SACU) enabling them to share in the customs revenue from their trade
passing through South African ports. In order to counter the economic
dominance of South Africa in the southern African region, the countries to
the north of it organised themselves into the Southern African Development
Conference (SADC). Member states include those of the SACU as well as
Angola, situated north of Namibia, and it's oil-rich enclave of Cabinda,
and Mozambique on the east coast, and the countries of south-central
Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania signed
Treaty for Enhanced East African Co-operation in order to allow free flow
of goods and people. The small landlocked central African countries of
Rwanda and Burundi form part of an economic union of countries in the
central African region. Other members of the Economic Community of Central
African States are Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial
Guinea, the oil-rich Congo and Gabon and the vast country of the Democratic
Republic of Congo. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
is a solid geographical bloc of 15 states from Nigeria in the east to
Mauritania in the west. The countries of Mauritania, Mali and Niger are
located in the southern stretch of the Sahara Desert while the remaining
countries are splayed out along the coast line. As a result of their
respective colonial histories, these countries are divided into French and
English-speaking states. The francophone countries include the republics of
Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, the Ivory Coast (Cфte d'Ivoire), Guinea and
Senegal while the remaining states of Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra
Leone, and the Gambia have English as their official language. The Republic
of Guinea Bissau is a Portuguese-speaking state to the south of Senegal.
5. Problems and ways to solve them
The biggest challenge to doing business in Africa is the lack of
quality information about Africa. Some of the other challenges of Africa
are:
. fluctuating currencies
. bureaucratic red tape, which is slowly getting easier to wade
through
. graft and corruption
. nepotism
. wars and unrest, though the changes in South Africa are starting
to create a ripple of peace and democracy throughout the region
. lack of local capital
. monopolies such as marketing boards, state trading firms,
foreign exchange restrictions, trade taxes and quotas and
concentration on limited commodities all place a disincentive on
exports, thus delinking Africa from the world economy.
. lack of infrastructure, though in areas such as
telecommunications and energy, Africa is able to use new
