Africa is ultimately impoverished because of the destruction done to its economy and society by both foreign capital and local elites, who frequently receive support from other countries. 

To foster an environment that encourages people to start their own businesses, the public and private sectors must collaborate. Africa creates jobs, and attracts both domestic and global investors and individuals. To improve the investment climate, governance reforms are required.

The prevailing perception among global elites is that Africa is frequently undeserving of receiving “official financial flows”.

Advocates of the status quo contend that international trading systems have mitigating factors intended to provide Africa with a safety net; nonetheless, these unequal partners should not be expected to shoulder the same degree of responsibility in international agreements as countries at different stages of growth and development.

The low-income countries are not so much locked in a “poverty trap” as they are in a “commodity trap,” which is shown by the long-term drop in commodity prices, particularly in relation to manufacturing costs.

China and India, two of the world’s most effective globalisers, according to a bank study, adopt unorthodox policies as opposed to those supported by creditors and donors.   In the current context of agricultural policy, a development plan predicated on agricultural commodity exports is probably going to be impoverishing.

Although African countries’ trade terms have improved in recent years, the system of export-led prosperity remains unequal and unfair, impoverishing Africans in numerous ways. 

By taking into account natural resources’ depletion – petroleum, other sub-soil mineral assets, timber resources, non-timber forest resources, cropland, and pastureland – associated with trade, the World Bank calculates that much of Africa is poorer, not wealthier, than it would have been without the emphasis on primary product exports.

Financial imbalances, unequal exchange in trade, particularly Africa’s increasing trade deficit, are other avenues for extracting super-profits from Africa. 

Over the last quarter-century, the continent’s share of global trade has fallen, while its export volume has climbed. 

Africa’s ‘marginalisation’ occurred not as a result of insufficient integration, but as other parts of the world moved to export manufactured goods, while Africa’s industrial potential dropped, most likely due to excessive deregulation linked with structural reforms.

Is Africa’s overall status the result of poor implementation of otherwise effective governmental policy?

*Janee Kovambo Kandjii Kavindjima is an English student at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.