This raised many questions about the reasons that deepen poverty in the African continent, which has 35 percent of the mineral resources and more than 65 percent of the arable land in the world.
According to an index released Thursday by “Global Finance”, which bases its classifications on data from the World Bank and the Monetary Fund, the ten poorest countries in the world are all located on the African continent.
In addition to South Sudan, the list includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Niger, Malawi, Chad and Liberia.
The paradox lies in the fact that most of the countries characterized by extreme poverty possess enormous natural resources, but they record very low growth rates, with an average of only 3 percent.
Like Daniel, more than two-thirds of the African continent’s 1.3 billion people live in poverty, with unemployment rates averaging 12 percent, according to World Bank data.
Daniel told Sky News Arabia that finding a job is a daunting task, like looking for a needle in the desert.
She points out that young people and university graduates in African countries are often frustrated when they find themselves unable to get out of poverty due to the lack of access to job opportunities despite the many resources that characterize their countries.
According to “Global Finance”, the common factor among most of the countries at the top of the poverty list is inequality, social and political divisions, civil wars, corruption, lack of economic diversification, and excessive reliance on international humanitarian aid.
Most cities in these countries lack adequate infrastructure, with very limited access to electricity, sanitation and clean water.
Many reasons
“Weak growth, debt risks and anemic investment growth all threaten to lose a decade of poverty reduction,” says Andrew Dapalin, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa.
Dabalin believes that getting out of the impasse requires policy makers to redouble efforts to reduce inflation and enhance domestic resource mobilization. and enact pro-growth reforms—while continuing to help the poorest households cope with the rising cost of living.
Experts and observers considered corruption, the absence of good governance, mismanagement, and continued economic dependence among the main reasons preventing Africa from benefiting from its rich natural resources.
Bakri Al-Jack, a professor of public policy and administration at Long Island University in New York, Africa, asserts that the problem lies in mismanagement and a general defect in the systems of government.
“Most of the countries of Africa are rich in resources, but what they lack is how to properly exploit these resources and benefit from them, which can only be achieved in the presence of good governance and transparent and effective management,” Al-Jack told Sky News Arabia.
He says that many African countries rich in resources not only lack good governance systems, but also suffer from weak state institutions and the absence of proper planning that enables the utilization of resources and the achievement of the required human and economic development.
Education is in danger
It is expected that the current repercussions of poverty will affect the future of the continent for many years, as it will be reflected in many vital future sectors needed to drive growth, especially the education sector. In most parts of the continent, 60 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 17 are forced to interrupt their education due to economic conditions.
Holly Warren, Head of the Education Department at Save the Children, told Sky News Arabia that African countries are facing a complex set of factors that exacerbated the crisis, on top of which is the lack of government spending on education, in addition to poor access to the Internet, displacement, climate change, and others. from other factors.
She stressed the need for government authorities to assume their responsibilities to address the causes and problems that endanger children’s education.
According to the World Bank, school fees are a concern for more than 54 percent of the population, and the parents of more than 20 percent of school-age children cannot afford their children’s education.
It is not expected that the African continent will be able to address the causes of poverty in the short term. Especially in light of the enormous pressures caused by the current debt crisis, which amounted to more than a trillion dollars, and its annual service expenses of about $100 billion placed more burdens on the lives of ordinary residents, as it led to a deterioration of rates ranging between 20 and 70 percent in most national currencies. Raising inflation rates and reducing the purchasing power of the population in a continent that relies 60 percent of its needs on foreign markets, and thus led to a steadily widening of poverty.
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