africa: tre paesi in piena crescita economica

[famedoro]

Botswana:

Botswana: From dusty bowl to sparkling success story
By Hamilton Wende
Gaborone, Botswana
6 September 2016

When Charles King of the Southern Africa News Service reported on Botswana's independence in September 1966, he described the country as a "vast, trackless wasteland" with little to celebrate.

Two years of drought and crop failure had brought "havoc and hunger to its widely scattered agriculture inhabitants" he wrote, adding that the newly-formed country had little hope of economic stability.

At the time, in a country the size of France, there were only 12 kilometres (seven miles) of paved roads, few hospitals and most people depended on cattle and subsistence farming for an income.

Five decades on and Botswana is regularly hailed as an Africa success story. The UN's development agency, the UNDP, describes Botswana as "one of Africa's veritable economic and human development success stories".

Natural charm

This is evident on arriving in Gaborone, Botswana's capital. The streets are clean and orderly, the traffic - such as it is - flows easily and modern glass buildings - sensible, orderly structures - gleam against a usually clear blue sky.

Unlike the tortured post-colonial chaos of so many African capitals, things work here - and they work well.

Greg Mills of the Brenthurst Foundation, an independent economic think-tank in Johannesburg, says the transformation is "down to long-term vision, stable politics and prudent government".

And, he might have added, luck.

Botswana is blessed by two great pieces of fortune - huge diamond deposits and vast pristine areas of wilderness where big cats roam free and which are home to more elephants than anywhere else in the world.

Both have helped the country's per capita wealth jump more than 100-fold in 50 years.

Diamond mining giant De Beers was already prospecting in the country when in 1969 it announced it had found significant diamond-bearing rock formations. By the 1980s, Botswana was the world's largest producer of gem diamonds.

Wise stewardship by Botswana's leaders has seen the country avoid the "resource curse" where mineral wealth has been squandered, as in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Kebapetse Lotshwao, politics lecturer at the University of Botswana, says the first four decades of independence have been especially successful. "The country was lucky to have leaders such as Seretse Khama and Ketumile Masire [Botswana's first two presidents]," he says.

The pair put development above everything else. Using international development aid and growing diamond revenues, they invested heavily in social services such as health and education.

This saw poverty drop (although a fifth of the population is still below the poverty line) while health and literacy rates are high and attendance at primary school up to age 13 is nearly 90%. Many children also go on to high school.

Today though, some worry that Botswana has hit a plateau. Unemployment is stubbornly high at nearly 20% and little progress has been made on diversifying the country's economy away from diamonds and tourism.

Furthermore, the country's Aids epidemic inflicts a heavy toll while the recent drought in southern Africa has badly afflicted the many who are subsistence farmers.

But there are other issues bubbling away that are tarnishing Botswana's reputation.

Cronyism
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which has ruled since independence, is losing its popularity. Political discontent is on the rise and, critics say, the government is becoming more authoritarian. Journalists who investigate corruption have been detained and harassed.

A report by Freedom House, a US democracy rights group, also reports that there is more than a whiff of cronyism.

"There are almost no restrictions on the private business activities of public servants (including the president, who is a large stakeholder in the tourism sector) and political ties often play a role in awarding government jobs and tenders," it says.

Mr Lotshwao says the government has "failed to evenly distribute the fruits of development and economic growth".

"There is a need to find a way of closing the gap between the rich and the poor," he argues.

"As things stand, this is not good in the long run as the losers could become dejected, a situation that can lead to political instability."

Mr Lotshwao argues that the country needs political reform to distribute power away from President Ian Khama, the son of Botswana's first post-independence leader.

Consensus politics
"Botswana's democracy has not progressed over the years," he says.

"It still uses an imperial constitution imposed by Britain at independence. The president is empowered to rule as he sees fit."

As for the economy, Mr Mills says Botswana "must diversify".

"It must benchmark against and be more competitive than South Africa in services from airports to airlines, telecoms and banking costs."

As economist Michael Lewin has pointed out in a World Bank report, there is a Tswana tradition called kgotla, where members of the community sit and talk for hours until a problem is solved.

The end of Botswana's glittering diamond wealth may be on the horizon, but the old ways of kgotla may find a path to further success for the 21st Century.

Problems have emerged, but consensus has been the Botswana way of government since long before independence. It is possible that its people today will be able to find a way out of their growing dilemmas.

Botswana: From dusty bowl to sparkling success story - BBC News


Gaborone




Etiopia:

The story of Ethiopia’s incredible economic rise


The cityscape of Addis Ababa

WRITTEN BY
Dan Kopf
October 26, 2017 Quartz Africa


Ethiopia’s economy is booming, and despite the country’s current political turmoil, the IMF thinks the good times will last.

In 2000, Ethiopia, the second-most populous country in Africa, was the third-poorest country in the world. Its annual GDP per capita was only about $650. More than 50% of the population lived below the global poverty line, the highest poverty rate in the world.

What has happened since is miraculous. According to IMF estimates, from 2000 to 2016, Ethiopia was the third-fastest growing country of 10 million or more people in the world, as measured by GDP per capita. The country’s poverty rate fell to 31% by 2011 (the latest year Ethiopia’s poverty level was assessed by the World Bank).
https://www.theatlas.com/charts/H1mKNBRab


The outlook for the next five years is bright. In its latest global forecast, the IMF projected that Ethiopian GDP per capita would expand at an annual pace of of 6.2% through 2022—among countries with 10 million or more people, only India and Myanmar are expected to grow faster.
https://www.theatlas.com/charts/Hy5ndGpT-


Any country making such progress would be cause for celebration, but because of its size, swelling population, and the depths of its poverty, Ethiopia’s gains are particularly heartening. By 2050, the UN expects the country to grow to 190 million people, from around 100 million today, making it among the fastest-growing large countries in terms of population, too.

The 1970s and 1980s were a period of political and economic turmoil in Ethiopia. The country was led by the brutal military leader Mengistu Haile Mariam, and during his reign the country faced civil war, famine, and failed socialist development policies. Since 1991, the country’s political situation has been relatively stable, and rising living standards have followed.

Ethiopia’s economy is concentrated in the services and agriculture sectors. The World Bank estimates that of the 10.8% average annual growth recorded by Ethiopia between 2004 and 2014, half came from services, like hospitality and transportation, which was mostly a result of country’s urbanization (pdf). Agriculture, meanwhile, accounted for 3.6% of the growth during the period. Improved agriculture production was mostly a result of the adaptation of improved seeds and chemical fertilizer, according to International Food Policy Research Institute. Manufacturing, though a small portion of the economy, is burgeoning, growing at more than 10% per year. A recent study by the Center for Global Development, a US think tank, concluded that Ethiopia was the most likely country in Africa to become the “New China.”

Still, Ethiopia faces a variety of issues. Though the current government has overseen a growing economy, it has suppressed dissent, and there are concerns it favors certain ethnic groups and regions of the country. More than 500 people died in clashes between the police and ethnic groups protesting the government’s creeping authoritarianism that began in late 2015. More recently, confrontations between ethnic Oromos and ethnic Somalis in the southeast of the country led to at least 30 deaths and 600 displaced.

If the country is able to overcome its political instability, the economic opportunities are immense. An increasingly educated population, improving infrastructure, and investments from China, give Ethiopia the chance to maintain its place among the world’s brightest development stories.

https://qz.com/1109739/ethiopia-is-o...-in-the-world/


Addis abeba

Ghana:

Ghana contends for fastest growing economy in the world– reports
The Times attributed Ghana’s economic growth to the steady rise in oil prices and the country’s oil production as well as boom in the tech and agriculture sector.

Published: 11.03.2018 , Refreshed: 12:17 Abu MubarikPrinteMail


Ghana is in contention to become the fastest growing economy in the world, the New York Times and Bloomberg have reported, quoting documents from the World Bank, African Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Brookings Institution.
The Times attributed Ghana’s economic growth to the steady rise in oil prices and the country’s oil production as well as boom in the tech and agriculture sector.

President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017 launched the ‘Planting for food and job’ programme to boost crop production and food security.

With a projected growth between 8.3 and 8.9 in 2018, the Times reports that Ghana “might outpace even India, with its booming tech sector, and Ethiopia, which over the last decade has been one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies thanks to expanding agricultural production and coffee exports.”

Despite the Ghana’s economic growth, the NYT claims growth in industries like finance and health care has also lagged, in part because government investment has been restricted over the last few years, in order to correct for years of overspending.

In January this year, the Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index gained 19 percent in dollar terms, the most among benchmarks, according to Bloomberg.

President Nana Akufo-Addo last Tuesday during Ghana's 61st Independence parade hailed as remarkable Ghana's economic growth in the last one year.

He said: “Ghana’s economy has grown from 3.6 per cent in 2016, the lowest in 22 years, to 7.9 per cent in 2017, and this year it’s expected to grow at 8.3 per cent, which would make it the fastest growing economy in the world.

“Inflation has gone down from 15.6 per cent at the end of 2016 to 10.3 per cent, as of January this year. Ghanaian industry has witnessed a spectacular revival from a growth rate of negative 0.5 per cent in 2016 to 17.7 per cent in 2017.

“Interest rates are on the decline, the cedi is stabilising, and the fiscal deficit has gone down from 9.3 per cent in 2016 to 5.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 2017, with a projection of 4.5 per cent for 2018."

Accra

[tancredi]

Sì, crescono economicamente ma la ricchezza resta sempre in mano a pochi e di democrazia, libertà e rispetto diritti civili nemmeno a parlarne.

[tancredi]

Forse solo una parziale eccezione per il Botswana

[vostok]

Forse solo una parziale eccezione per il Botswana

c è da dire che ha pure pochissimi abitanti però

[Lord Attilio]

Sì l'Etiopia... persino Afewerki che per la disperazione deve leccare il culo ad Israele e Sauditi sta messo meglio dell'Etiopia... giusto per dire, si muore di fame! Un po' come l'India, tanta crescita economica e miseria assoluta.

[MaIn]

2025, sempre più Africa - nigrizia.it

I politologi dell’Istituto dell’Unione europea degli studi sulla sicurezza, coordinati da Valérie Arnould e Francesco Strazzari, hanno elaborato uno studio sul continente africano per valutarne l’evoluzione nel breve periodo.
Tre fattori su tutti. Il dinamismo demografico conferirà all’Africa un ruolo sempre più rilevante sulla scena mondiale: entro il 2030 gli abitanti saranno 1,7 miliardi (oggi sono 1,2), superando quelli di Cina e India. Continuerà ad accentuarsi l’integrazione del continente nell’economia mondiale. Si attenuerà, senza cessare del tutto, la tendenza dei gruppi dirigenti politici a mantenere il potere per lunghi periodi (a prescindere dalla durata del mandato, stabilita dalla Costituzione).
L’esplosione demografica può minare la stabilità economica e sociale se, in un contesto di rapida urbanizzazione, non si danno risposte alle attese dei giovani in termini di lavoro. Considerato che già oggi il 40% della popolazione ha meno di 15 anni, è piuttosto improbabile che nel prossimo decennio le economie africane siano in grado di assorbire il flusso di giovani che entrerà nel mercato del lavoro.
Si sa che i giovani disoccupati sono più esposti alle sirene dei movimenti radicali. Ma, secondo lo studio, gli stati devono evitare di agevolare questo processo, qualificando come “terrorista” qualsiasi movimento di contestazione. Gli autori ricordano che nel 2011, quando fiorirono le primavere arabe in Nordafrica, i giovani giocarono un ruolo determinante nell’innescare il cambiamento, anche se poi gli avvenimenti hanno preso ben altra piega. Si prospetta un deficit di coesione sociale difficile da affrontare, soprattutto perché in molti paesi le entrate fiscali sono troppo contenute per finanziare meccanismi di redistribuzione del reddito.
La spinta demografica avrà ripercussioni sui flussi migratori interafricani e verso l’Europa. Per far fronte a questa sfida, i paesi africani dovranno dotarsi di leggi per regolare l’impiego all’estero della manodopera in eccedenza e favorire modelli di migrazione circolare (che prevede l’integrazione nel contesto europeo, ma anche una reintegrazione nel paese d’origine).
Anche l’accaparramento delle terre minaccia di creare nuovi conflitti. L’Africa rappresenta oggi il 42% delle transazioni fondiarie nel mondo. Per quanto riguarda l’acqua, le falde sono ipersfruttate sia nel nord che nell’est del continente, mentre le risorse ittiche dell’Africa occidentale risentono dell’attività crescente delle flotte di pescherecci asiatici ed europei. Sia chiaro, la pressione sulle risorse terra e acqua proviene non solo dalle multinazionali, ma dalle stesse élite africane.
Ne deriva che la sovranità alimentare del continente è destinata a ridursi. La Banca africana di sviluppo stima che le importazioni alimentari, oggi intorno ai 35 miliardi di dollari l’anno, arriveranno a 110 miliardi nel 2025.
Il rapporto prefigura anche spettacolari cambiamenti sul piano tecnologico. Nell’arco di tre anni, metà degli africani possederà uno smartphone e il ricorso ai pagamenti tramite sms sarà generalizzato. Di conseguenza, anche la cybercriminalità sarà in crescita.
Infine non ci sono dubbi che il terrorismo jihadista, i conflitti tra gli stati e l’instabilità interna di molte nazioni fanno da richiamo a missioni Onu, all’intervento di forze militari Usa e Ue (come si vede nel Sahel) e spingono anche Cina, Russai e Turchia a costituire basi militari nel continente.

[anticomunista]

Botswana:



Botswana: From dusty bowl to sparkling success story - BBC News


Gaborone




Etiopia:


https://qz.com/1109739/ethiopia-is-o...-in-the-world/


Addis abeba

Ghana:



Accra

Dove sta la novitá?


Si sapeva da almeno dieci anni

Siamo noi che stiamo andando a fondo

[bimbogigi]

mandate li le risorse afrigane

[vota dc]

Sì, crescono economicamente ma la ricchezza resta sempre in mano a pochi e di democrazia, libertà e rispetto diritti civili nemmeno a parlarne.

Intendo il Ghana è davanti all'Italia per libertà di stampa. E l'Italia accoglie i guerriglieri palestrati che vogliono la dittatura o la mafia in Ghana perché "gli africani vanno accolti tutti perché vivono in Africa dove sono tutti cannibali".

[anticomunista]

Sì, crescono economicamente ma la ricchezza resta sempre in mano a pochi e di democrazia, libertà e rispetto diritti civili nemmeno a parlarne.

La natura non si preoccupa delle questioni etiche

Potremmo dire invece xhe le questioni etixhe vanno contro natura

(Cerca di capire prima di saltare sulla sedia)

In natura l unica cosa che conta è la riproduzione xhe si perpetua

Tutto il resto o è di intralcio o non conta nulla,.

Se crescono crescono quando cali sparisci

Il resto non conta perchè sarai solo ricordato per quello che eri e non sarai presente in quello che sará