Posts published in “Education”

Africa is a resource-rich continent. It has abundant natural resources, but much of its economy has remained predominantly agricultural, and subsistence farming still engages more than 60 percent of the population. Africa’s entire landmass stretches across 30.2 million square kilometers and this makes it the second-largest continent in the world.

One half of the African continent lives below the poverty line. In sub-Saharan Africa, per capita GDP is now less than it was in 1974, having declined over 11 percent. While the rest of the world’s economy grew at an annual rate of close to 2 percent from 1960 to 2002, growth performance in Africa has been dismal.

The economy of Africa consists of the trade, industry, agriculture, and human resources of the continent. Approximately 1.3 billion people were living in 54 different countries in Africa.

African economy is an extreme one however due to the presence of natural resources has the potential to grow at a fast pace. With the exception of South Africa and the countries of North Africa, all of which have diversified production systems, the economy of most of Africa can be characterized as underdeveloped. The recent growth has been due to growth in sales in commodities, services, and manufacturing.

Africa’s economic growth has stabilized at 3.4 percent in 2019 and is expected to pick up to 3.9 percent in 2020 and 4.1 percent in 2021 but to remain below historical highs. Growth’s fundamentals are also improving, with a gradual shift from private consumption toward investment and exports. For the first time in a decade, investment accounted for more than half the continent’s growth.