Trade, industry, agriculture, and human resources all make up Africa’s diverse and booming economy. Last year stats revealed that 1.07 billion people were living in 54 different countries which make up the continent. More so than ever before the world is seeing Africa’s value as a truly resource-rich continent. Recent growth has assisted the continents development, and this is thanks to increased sales in commodities, services, and manufacturing.
Some of Africa’s countries consist of the fastest growing economies in the world. In the past ten years, growth in Africa has surpassed that of East Asia and is now experiencing fast growth, due to their resources and increasing political stability.
According to reports from the World Bank, the economy of Sub-Saharan African countries grew at rates that match or surpass global rates. The economies of the fastest growing African nations experienced growth considerably above the global average rates. Such economies were that of Mauritania with growth at 19.8%, Angola at 17.6%, Sudan at 9.6%, Mozambique at 7.9% and Malawi at 7.8%. Other fast growers include:
- Rwanda
- Mozambique
- Chad
- Niger
- Burkina Faso
- Ethiopia
Debt release is being addressed by a number of international institutions in the interests of supporting economic development in Africa.
Trade has driven much of the growth in Africa’s economy in the early 21st century. With 12.5% of Africa’s exports going to China, and 4% to India (accounting for 5% of China’s imports and 8% of India’s) China and India are increasingly important trade partners. Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates are additional increasingly important trade partners for Africa’s exports. Africa’s economy—with expanding trade, English language skills, improving literacy and education, availability of splendid resources and cheaper labour force—is expected to continue to perform better into the future. Economic movement has rebounded across Africa and oil-exporting countries generally expanded more strongly than oil-importing countries. West Africa and East Africa were the two best-performing sub-regions in 2010.