Been enjoying Africa? The six-part wildlife series has been tending to the nation’s post-Christmas misery with all of the gorgeous syrups of exoticism: animals in far-away places going through the cycles of birth and death, panoramic vistas and wide-open spaces, the natural world in all of its astounding panoply. You might not have had the masochistic commitment to catch every episode, but you are missing out if you don’t even try one. The BBC wildlife department know when they release these things that they’ve got another master-piece on their hands. Ground-breaking photography? Check. Extraordinary moments? Check. David Attenborough’s tenderly inimitable vocal cords? Of course. There’s something suspiciously facile about output that never fails. The BBC might as well provide a consumer guarantee to everyone tuning in. You will find gorgeous images, you will be enraptured, more alarmingly – you will be moved. An elephant keening over its dying calf is really quite strong stuff for a family show.
What other ways has Africa impressed itself upon your consciousness of late? Mali and Algeria have been in the news. Another war is starting. Images of men with guns ravaging the cradle continent of our species are being carried into western homes by television airwaves and internet cables. The printed page still plays a role. Of course, these pictures are only a small addition to the mental furniture. Most of us have a stock of images of impoverished Africa lurking somewhere in the old armoire. I always think of library footage of Michael Buerk during the Ethiopian famine, somehow mixed up with both modern day news reports and more than one Bond film. And I have read Heart of Darkness.
Africa is indisputably the world’s poorest continent. Here are some statistics: Of the 25 poorest countries in the world by GNI, more than 20 are African. The average income is more than 30 times lower than that in the Eurozone. Even comparatively wealthy South Africa’s GDP per capita is scarcely half that of formerly communist Poland. Even at strong current growth rates, it would take well-over 30 years for Africa to reach the income levels of Latin America today. By then, of course, the rest of the world will have left Africa behind, and it’s not like Latin America is rich in any case.
When you see a barrage of information like that you know that the statistics are less damned lies than facets of the same overwhelming truth. Africa is poor. Many of its democracies are flawed as well. Freedom house regards only 19 of sub-Saharan Africa’s 49 states as ‘full electoral democracies’.
But that doesn’t mean that things are not moving in the right direction. There are notable success stories. Countries like Ghana and Botswana have established credible democracies. Perhaps more importantly in a region with more basic economic needs, growth has been strong. In 2010, despite the economic horror show in our neck of the woods, Kenya grew 5.3%, once war-torn Rwanda 7.5%. And this isn’t even a recent pick-up in a few lucky places. In the decade up to 2007 African growth averaged 5.4% per annum. I wonder how much Bob Geldof’s Live 8 helped with that.
Africa has a long way to go, but it is chugging along rather nicely. In a global outlook plagued by sclerosis in Europe, deadlock in Washington and worries about credit bubbles in China many find Africa a notable bright spot. There is no surer sign of this than the growth in investment funds to Africa. Far-sighted fund managers smell opportunity.
The day is still far-off when all of your consumer items are likely to boast ‘Made in Nigeria’ and the like. African growth will not mean ship-building or big smoky factories for a good while yet. Instead it will be about more modest moves into activities like export processing or garment production. The continent faces particular challenges. Look on a map and you will see how much of Africa lies inland, far from the trading opportunities of the sea. Even in China they have never cracked the problem of inland poverty.
Africa’s very real problems are not easily remedied. Bob Geldof might call for more aid, but there is no clear evidence that more aid leads to better development prospects. Government inefficiency, aid dependence and (for you economists) the currency inflating effects of ‘Dutch disease’ might all be culpable. The protections enjoyed by developed world farmers are certainly damaging, preventing many African farmers from exporting their crops. But even trade liberalisation should be handled with care. A few years back the UN ran a simulation of what would happen if trade were partially liberalised, i.e. freer than now but still with restrictions. They found that Africa would actually lose out (food prices would increase with the extra foreign demand, reducing living standards for Africans).
So Africa is poor. Some of Africa is war-torn. Most of Africa has a long way to go. But what we don’t see reported nearly enough is that there are also successful African states enjoying strong growth and good prospects. And tourists should broaden their sights beyond the safari world of Africa too. Anyone for the medieval rock-hewn churches of Lalibela? Have you even heard of them before?
The day is still far-off when all of your consumer items are likely to boast ‘Made in Nigeria’ and the like. African growth will not mean ship-building or big smoky factories for a good while yet. Instead it will be about more modest moves into activities like export processing or garment production. The continent faces particular challenges. Look on a map and you will see how much of Africa lies inland, far from the trading opportunities of the sea. Even in China they have never cracked the problem of inland poverty.
Africa’s very real problems are not easily remedied. Bob Geldof might call for more aid, but there is no clear evidence that more aid leads to better development prospects. Government inefficiency, aid dependence and (for you economists) the currency inflating effects of ‘Dutch disease’ might all be culpable. The protections enjoyed by developed world farmers are certainly damaging, preventing many African farmers from exporting their crops. But even trade liberalisation should be handled with care. A few years back the UN ran a simulation of what would happen if trade were partially liberalised, i.e. freer than now but still with restrictions. They found that Africa would actually lose out (food prices would increase with the extra foreign demand, reducing living standards for Africans).
So Africa is poor. Some of Africa is war-torn. Most of Africa has a long way to go. But what we don’t see reported nearly enough is that there are also successful African states enjoying strong growth and good prospects. And tourists should broaden their sights beyond the safari world of Africa too. Anyone for the medieval rock-hewn churches of Lalibela? Have you even heard of them before?
