Africa’s economy consists of trade, industry, agriculture, and labor. In 2019, the 54 countries that make up the African continent had a population of about 1.3 billion people.

Africa is a continent rich in natural resources. The growth in these years was due to the increase in sales of goods, services, and industrial production. It is expected that by 2050 West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa in particular, will reach a GDP of 29 trillion US dollars.

Let me ask myself And I turn to ask you the reader, why will it takes more than 25 years for this to happen And why is the picture of the African economy still viewed in dollars?

In March 2013, Africa emerged as the poorest continent in the world: The combined gross domestic product of Africa is one third of the gross domestic product of the United States; however, the World Bank predicts that if growth rates continue, by 2025 most African countries will reach the “middle level” of poor and non-rich (ie at least US$1,000 per person per year).

There are many reasons for the poor economic situation in Africa: historically, Africa had many rich trading empires in many parts of the world; however, the colonialism of European countries and the subsequent problems caused by independence and the Cold War, caused economic and social instability. However, as of 2013 Africa has been the fastest growing region in the world at a rate of 5.6% per year, and GDP is expected to increase by an average of 6% per year between 2013 and 2024.

Map of colonial Africa

In 2017, the African Development Bank announced that Africa is the second fastest growing economy in the world, and said that the economy will grow by 3.4% in 2017, while growth is expected to reach 4.3% in 2018.

Growth was evident on the African continent, where a third of African countries showed an average growth rate of 6%, and 40% grew between 4% and 6% per year. International business observers have also compared Africa as an engine of economic growth in the world.

Ancient Egyptian base units were also used as their currency African economies were diverse, largely based on large trade routes between cities and kingdoms.

Some trade routes were by land, others by river, and others by developed countries through ports around cities. The great kingdom of Africa grew because of the trade networks it had, such as ancient Egypt, Nubia, Mali, Ashanti, and the kingdom of Oyo.

Monetary Sultanate of Mogadishu.
Some parts of Africa had trade relations with the Arab kingdoms, and during the Ottoman Empire, Africans began to convert to Islam in large numbers.

This development, along with the exploration of the Indian Ocean trade route, brought the Portuguese into sub-Saharan Africa as a powerful force. For the benefit of the colonists they set up new industries to feed the European demand for products such as oil, rubber, cotton, precious metals, spices, crops and other products, especially in the regions of the Atlantic economy.

After the independence of African countries in the 20th century, economic, political and social upheavals have seriously disrupted the continent. But in some countries the economy has grown significantly in recent years.

Africa’s economic growth (since the 2000s) has been compared to China’s economic growth seen in Asia since the late 1970s. In 2013, Africa had seven of the fastest growing economies in the world.

In 2018, Nigeria was the largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, followed by South Africa in terms of PPP, Egypt is second in terms of nominal GDP after Nigeria. Equatorial Guinea had the highest GDP in Africa despite a history of violence and human rights abuses.

Oil-rich countries such as Algeria, Libya and Gabon, and mineral-rich Botswana emerged as the first emerging economies of the 21st century, while Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were likely to be among them. the richest countries in the world, yet they are among the poorest countries in the world due to extreme corruption, bad policies, wars and low labor productivity.