Worrying Statistics of Africa

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Not so fast. In his book, Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy ‘s ‘Last Frontier’ Can Prosper and Matter - which I have just read - Dr Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu rains on the parade of the Afro-optimists. The CBN deputy governor summons the forgotten statistics: Africa’s share of world trade is still an insignificant 3%; its share of Foreign Direct Investment is a mere 5%; the combined GDP of 54 African countries is about that of India alone; the GDP of the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa inclusive, is similar to that of Belgium; all the electricity produced by Sub-Saharan Africa is equal to that of Spain, a country with just 5% of Africa’s population; and just 100,000 individuals account for 80% of Africa’s GDP.
To be sure, Moghalu is not an Afro-pessimist. And that is the point. Afro-optimism, in its present shape, is not about Africa being a driver of globalisation but a mere passenger, a growing passenger - if you will. It is not about Africa being a producer but a voracious, obese consumer. Instructively, much of the celebrated GDP growth is fuelled by high prices of commodities, like oil, which only come in cycles. The prevailing Afro-optimism, for all intents and purposes, is about Africa being a market. For instance, Africans have more mobile phone lines than Americans. But the devices are produced in Asia and North America. There are over 120 million active phone lines in Nigeria - but not one is assembled, much less manufactured, in the country! “Emerging market” indeed!

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