While some African countries are seeing their situation improve, this is clearly not the case for many sub-Saharan countries. In the context of economic globalization, indicators for the continent as a whole are not evolving favorably. In spite of the globalization or because of it, the interpretations will diverge according to the ideologies. The author of this article is clearly anti-globalization, but the figures they present are not questionable. Enough to feed Afro-pessimism.
INJUST AND FALLING "EXCHANGES"
"While Northern countries are benefiting from technological advances in the fields of communication, research and economic productivity, Africa does not have access to modern technologies: Africa, for example, has only 0, 8% of people with Internet access worldwide (just 0.1% for the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa which still shelter 10% of the world's population), while research and development ( R & D) is a major issue at the end of the century, Africa accounts for less than 1% of global spending in this area, and the worst is that the continent's scientific situation continues to deteriorate, with sub-Saharan Africa losing 20% of its global weight (measured by the number of international publications) between 1990 and 1995.
Then, despite the daily scale of capital movements around the world, the African continent is deprived of money. Thus, while, for example, one in three French jobs is created by Foreign direct investment (FDI), Africa is indefatigably shunned by international investment: on the $ 622 billion of FDI in 1998 only 8.3 billion (or 1.3% of the total) went to Africa. The situation is even worse if we focus on sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for only 1% of FDI to developing countries. An even more nuanced analysis shows that almost all of this tiny part is destined for only a few countries (South Africa and a few oil and mineral producing countries such as Nigeria, Angola, Gabon or Morocco). Cameroon).
In addition, while WTO (World Trade Organization) experts speak of the unified world trade market, Africa's contribution to this market is only 2%. The worst is that this situation does not come from an African policy of withdrawal: since the 1980s, Africa has largely opened its markets, following the advice of the IMF and applying the structural adjustment plans. However, this opening of African markets paradoxically had the effect of reducing its contribution to world trade, which amounted to 4% in 1980 (today's double).
The phenomenon is even more glaring if we look at exports alone: while the IMF bases its program on more and more exports, the more it intervenes in the African economy by liberalizing it and the more the continent exports in volume, the less that it brings in value (the value of African exports fell by half between 1980 and 1998).
(...) The place that has [to Africa] been devolved in the panorama of globalization is twofold: export to the North some raw materials (cocoa, coffee, rubber, oil, minerals, cotton, sugar, etc. .) and import technologies, manufactured products and some of the basic grains from the North. However, the terms of these exchanges between North and Africa are far from favorable to the latter, since since the 1980s and with a few rare exceptions (such as the cocoa and coffee boom in 1995-96), commodity prices (listed primarily on the Wall Street, Chicago, and London markets) have been declining faster than the prices of manufactured goods in the North. As a result, Africa is condemned by external fluctuations to sell its raw materials without added value. Since 1980, the value of the basket of products exported by Africa has thus lost half of its value against products imported from the North. Logical consequence of this reality: the African trade balance is experiencing a growing deficit. The situation is particularly dire for sub-Saharan African countries: their trade deficit, which did not exist in the early 1980s, rose from $ 600 million in 1990 to $ 11.5 billion in 1996, almost twenty times over in six years!
The Marrakesh Accords (establishing the WTO in 1994) have also not been to the advantage of Africa: while the IMF advises against subsidies, deemed unreasonable expenditure for the balance of the balance Northern rich countries subsidize their export products (mainly agricultural products). As a result of this dumping, the productions are