The Facts -- New Internationalist

new internationalist 139 September 1984

AFRICA

The facts

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The FACTS

Making Africa Poor
Africa's crisis has some very visible victims - victims born of drought, civil war, and despotism. But the majority are less visible. According to UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar 'Five million African children will die from malnutrition in 1984 and another five million will be handicapped for life.' Most are victims, not of natural calamity, but of a cycle of dependence that is sinking Africa even deeper into debt and poverty.

EARNING IT

Raw Cash

Africa must buy what it does not produce - anything from railway engines to transistor radios - and that means earning hard currency, or foreign exchange’. MostAfrican economies depend for their foreign exchange on the export of just one or two raw materials: either cash crops or minerals. And here they are at the mercy of world markets: prices are fixed in New York and London and with nothing else to sell, a slump in cocoa or copper, tea or tobacco, spells immediate crisis.

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SPENDING IT

Imports
Food	16.9%
Agriculture-materials	2.2%
Ores-and-metals	6.3%
Fuels	9.5%
Manufactured goods	64.3%

Bare Necessities

The manufactured goods that Africa buys with its foreign exchange rise steadily in price. A large proportion are luxuries for the wealthy or expensive weapons for the military. The basic needs of the majority of Africans are frequently ignored.

Source: IMF

BORROWING IT

The Debt Trap

The gap between what is earned and what is spent is covered by borrowing. Paying back interest on these debts becomes yet another drain on scarce foreign exchange. Pressure grows to increase exports in order to meet debt repayments. When this fails more borrowing follows, and so the debt spiral takes another upward turn.

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Source: World Bank

A world apart

The basic indicators of human well-being - health, life expectancy and literacy - reveal that Africa is very badly off indeed. Worse off not only than industrialised countries but the rest of the Third World as well.

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Source: Overseas Development Council, Washington.

The Food Gap

Sub-Saharan Africa’s population of 362 million is expected to double in the next 25 years. Meanwhile agricultural production is in decline and expensive food imports are on the increase. The result, predicted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAQ), is that Africa will provide for only half its food needs by the year 2020.

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Poverty Index

	Population (in millions)	Birth Rate (per 1000)	Infant Mortality (per 1000)	Life Expectancy	Adult Literacy	$ GNP (per capita)
Angola	8.0	49	165	43	5	1,247
Benin	3.7	49	117	48	25	310
Botswana	0.9	51	83	48	33	902
Burundi	4.3	47	123	47	23	280
Cameroon	9.3	46	92	53	41	890
Central Afr Rep	2.4	41	119	48	39	310
Chad	4.6	42	161	44	15	80
Congo	1.7	43	68	60	50	1,180
Equatorial Guinea	0.3	50	147	40	38	175
Ethiopia	32.9	47	122	47	15	140
Gabon	0.7	34	117	44	12	3,909
Gambia	0.6	49	198	41	15	348
Ghana	12.2	49	86	55	30	360
Guinea	5.7	49	190	38	20	310
Guinea-Bissau	0.8	40	149	41	28	185
Ivory Coast	8.9	48	119	47	41	950
Kenya	18.1	55	77	57	50	390
Lesotho	1.4	42	94	53	52	510
Liberia	2.0	50	91	54	25	490
Madagascar	9.2	47	116	48	50	320
Malawi	6.5	56	137	44	25	210
Mali	7.1	48	132	45	9	180
Mauritania	1.6	43	132	45	17	470
Mozambique	12.9	49	105	51	28	240
Niger	5.9	52	132	45	5	310
Nigeria	90.6	50	109	50	29	860
Rwanda	5.5	54	126	46	50	260
Senegal	6.0	48	155	44	10	490
Sierra Leone	3.2	49	190	38	15	390
Somalia	4.5	48	184	39	5	290
South Africa	30.4	40	55	63	57	2,670
Sudan	20.2	45	119	47	20	440
Swaziland	0.6	48	135	46	55	844
Tanzania	19.8	47	98	52	74	280
Togo	2.8	49	122	47	16	340
Uganda	13.5	50	120	47	48	230
Upper Volta	6.5	48	157	44	9	210
Zaire	30.7	46	106	55	58	190
Zambia	6.0	50	105	51	44	640
Zimbabwe	7.5	54	83	56	71	850