The African economy and its role in the world economy

Abstract

After a period of failing per capita incomes that started in the 1970s, Africa finally saw a turn-around from about 1995, with initially modest increases in per capita incomes in Africa grow by above 3% on average, partly due to the resource boom, but also du to improved economic policies. Sub-Saharan Africa is a very small player in the global economy. At current exchange rates, sub-Saharan Africa produced only 1,4% of global GDP in 2005 and had an average per capita income that was 1/41 of that of the high income countries. Adjusting for differences in purchasing power, the gap shrinks to 1/16, which is still enormous. In PPP terms, Africa is clearly the poorest region in the world. The growth experiences vary considerably across countries and over time. The countries that receive much Swedish aid today generally did badly in the 1980s, somewhat better in the 1990s and many have been doing very well since the turn of the century. The average for the main recipients of Swedish aid...