WHY DOES AFRICA LET OUTSIDERS PRICE OUR RESOURCES?

Colonial powers structured African economies around extracting raw materials for export to manufacture finished products in places like Europe. Then, we imported those goods at high costs. This continues to this day, making Africa vulnerable to global price fluctuations. While we don’t like the term ‘sub-Saharan,’ the World Bank’s 2022 report showed that ‘sub-Saharan Africa’ exported $133.5 billion in raw materials in 2021 alone. Meanwhile, it imports more than $469 billion worth of goods.