Africa rising; The economic history of sub-Saharan Africa

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Sub-Saharan Africa is huge. Its area is larger than that of China, the United States and India combined or five times that of the 28 countries of the European Union. Its population, at over 930 million, is also getting on for twice as much as that of the European Union. The 48 countries of the region are also extremely varied, both in size and economic history, with many small countries and giants such as Nigeria. This article aims to provide an overview of the economic history of sub-Saharan Africa since independence (around 1960 for most countries).

At the beginning of the 20th century sub-Saharan Africa was “an overwhelmingly land-abundant region characterised by shortages of labour and capital, by perhaps surprisingly extensive indigenous market activities and by varying but often low levels of political centralisation”.1 This shortage of labour was overwhelmingly due to the slave trade. In the 200 years to 1850 the population of Africa did not grow significantly. In contrast, the population of Europe grew over four-fold in this period. But sub-Saharan Africa was also ravaged by the effects of colonialism. From the end of the 19th century sub-Saharan Africa suffered around 60 years of colonial plunder and as a result, “on a continent of household-based agrarian economies with very limited long-distance trade, colonialism imposed cash-crop production for export, and mineral extraction, with manufacturing supposed to come later”.2

The relative underdevelopment of the African economy can therefore be traced to a number of factors. As a result of colonialism, many of its national economies became virtual monoculture (mineral or commodity) exporters. They are also dependent on imports for equipment, capital goods, the bulk of their consumer goods, know-how and technology. By the 1980s only five countries (Benin, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Senegal and Zimbabwe) had diversified export bases.3

Primary production still dominates sub-Saharan Africa’s exports.4 The economies of many African countries are heavily dependent on the export of one or two commodities. As a result they are more susceptible to the vagaries of world price changes and other external shocks than more diversified economies.5 The result of such adverse shocks from the late 1970s and the subsequent introduction of neoliberalism, was the further growth of incredible inequality within Africa. While over two thirds of Africans still exist on less than $2 a day,6 there are also Africans among the richest people in the world. Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, with a net worth of 14.9 billion US dollars, is richer than anyone in Britain. Nicky Oppenheimer and Johann Rupert of South Africa are richer than all but three people in Britain.7

There is, of course, also gross inequality between Africa and the industrial world. This inequality has exploded over the last two centuries. As an example of the comparability of their economic development, in the late 19th century some African states were still able routinely to defeat European armies: for example, a popular uprising led to the death of Charles Gordon, Britain’s governor general of the Sudan in 1885, and the British retreat from Sudan. Similarly, in neighbouring Ethiopia, an Italian army of 20,000 was massively defeated at the Battle of Adowa in 1896. In West Africa the armed forces of the Asante Empire defeated the British forces and killed their commander, the governor of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1824. The Asante again attacked the coastal area of the Gold Coast between 1869 and 1872 and were only finally defeated in 1874.8

Whereas in 1820 the average European worker earned about three times the wages of the average African worker, now the average European earns around 20 times as much.9 In addition, there is great inequality between countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Economically, the continent is dominated by Nigeria and South Africa; combined they account for around three quarters of the region’s GDP. Their companies are very active across sub-Saharan Africa and their governments act as sub-imperial powers, even aiding Western imperial powers. During 2013, for example, Nigerian troops helped to replace the French forces in northern Mali and 13 South African paratroopers were killed in the Central African Republic during the overthrow of its former president.

Despite the diversity of national economic experiences, the economic history of sub-Saharan Africa can be broadly divided into four sub-periods:10

    1960-1980, when the growth of many African economies equalled that in many other areas of the world—annual GDP growth of 4.8 percent.11

    1980-2000, when economic growth collapsed in many African countries as a result of the external shocks of oil price increases, declining terms of trade and increased real rates of interest—annual GDP growth of 2.1 percent.12

    2000-2007, when many African economies recorded reasonable economic growth largely from the significant increase in the prices received for primary products—annual GDP growth of 3.9 percent.13

    2008-present when economic uncertainty returned with some decline in demand for raw materials with the slow down in the European and American markets and reduced growth in the Chinese economy.

The broad trends of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (and Africa as a whole) over the last half a century are shown in figure 1. The recent economic prosperity, termed “Africa rising”, has largely been grabbed by the economic elite. It will take more sustained struggle by the growing working class to see a significant reduction in poverty over the coming decades. But the huge struggles, especially in South Africa and Nigeria, in recent years have indicated that this is a distinct possibility.

The medium-term effects of the ongoing global Great Recession on Africa are not yet clear and the economy still faces a significant number of key risks.14 Initially there was a marked slow-down in economic growth, but there has now been some economic recovery, although prices of primary products have moderated recently.

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