Fixation on natural resources stunting Africa – Ibn Chambas

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Special Representative to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, has noted that the overdependence on natural resources by African countries, has slowed down the rate at which the region is growing.

Delivering a lecture on Wednesday, 15 November, Dr Ibn Chambas said: “Some of the factors that are slowing down the pace of African growth are fear of complacency and overdependence on natural resources, which leads to jobless growth.

“Until very recently, the nations of sub-Saharan Africa were growing economically at an average of 5 per cent a year, much faster than the rest of the world.

“A few of them, especially the petroleum and gas producers, have been rising at even higher double-digit rate, but that growth trajectory has now come to a stuttering halt as China demands oil, iron ore, copper, crude and metallic ore and other precious resources has slowed down substantially.”

The former Bimbilla MP added: “Simultaneously, the formerly high prices of commodities have tumbled, so Africans and other exporters of primary goods have suffered a double whammy as mines have been shuttered and pipelines slowed down.

“The pace of exploration in West and East African waters has also considerably faltered. This is all the more so concerning, as two-thirds of African economies depend on exports of a few commodities.

A case in point is the Central African countries that are now in economic crisis owing to the sharp drop in oil prices.”