The Research On The Cause Of The Underdevelopment Of Resource-rich Countries In Gulf Of Guinea

The underdevelopment in African countries in general and those with abundantnatural resources continue to be a major concern. It is obvious that for more than halfa century it seems that countries in this area did not experienced significant progressor satisfactory changes in any field and the continent is still struggling to trigger asustainable development. If South Africa to some extent has succeeded to be countedamong the emerging countries, all Sub-Sahara African countries continue to vegetatein a chronic underdevelopment and facing more survival problems. The Gulf ofGuinea countries despite their abundance in hydrocarbon have not stood out from thatunworthy image assigned to the continent and lead themselves resolutely adevelopment path. And yet the revenue from the export of these natural resources(crude oil and minerals) is very huge and can be quit helpful in contributingsignificantly to this development process.This situation is still a preoccupant and continues to divide the world of scholarsabout the impact of natural resources on development. Theories to confirm or denythe positive effect of resource abundance are known and abound but they still unableto agree on whether a country has to be endowed with abundant natural resources tobe developed. Since there are countries which have achieved considerable progressbut they have been devoid of natural resources (Japan, South Korea, Chinese-Taiwan,Singapore etc.). And even are some countries that have succeed in shape theirdevelopment on their endowment in natural resources (hydrocarbons, minerals) suchas Australia and the United States. Besides these typical cases, almost all Africancountries include the Gulf of Guinea; exporter of crude oil for decades on still lookingfor their own development model. In the current context of economic crisis andfluctuation in commodity prices, it is urgent to seek to remove bottlenecks and see towhat extent the abundance of natural resources (especially hydrocarbons) maycontribute to their development. The dissertation as a whole is divided into five chapters.Chapter1: this part is mainly devoted to the definition of fundamental conceptsbishops in the thesis. The concept of the of a country’s natural resource abundance hasdifferent meaning and used in different way by scholars. Here we rather referred thedefinition based on criteria and indicators of abundance according Sachs(1995) andAuty(1998). Abundance mineral economies is defined here as those which generate atleast8%of GDP and40percent of their exports. Then this notion is primarily usedhere as the ratio of exports of natural resources among total exports. Subsequently,emphasis has been placed on different theories for such underdevelopment, the Dutchdisease and especially the core-periphery theory that considered the core as thosedeveloped countries and commodity exporters as the periphery.Chapter2Shows an excellent geographical conditions enjoyed by these countriesof the Gulf of Guinea bordering with sea with low temperatures in contrast to thosewho use to think that these regions cannot be conducive to economic activity. Thegulf of Guinea has a very young population and is full of enormous resources. Apartfrom hydrocarbons, diamond deposits iron and other minerals are available andreserves are not negligible. This was shown by the extreme dependence on exports ofnatural resources that is an important source of revenue for those countries whoseeconomic growth is closely linked. The problem here is that this extreme dependenceis leading the gulf of Guinea to be exposed to foreign shocks (crisis) and putting themin a permanent state of uncertainty. These countries have neglected the promotion ofother economic sectors which have high added value.Chapter3highlights how most countries in the sample formerly agriculturalproduct exporters have become unable to feed themselves and ensure their foodssovereignty. Also the development indicators are very poor and despite the hugefunds received from the oil business, countries of the gulf of Guinea has failed toremove the frontiers of poverty and underdevelopment.Chapter4: At this stage of the study it was necessary to revisitate the resourcecurse and check if it had a negative impact on economic growth and development.Inspired by Sachs and Warner1995regression model based on abundance of naturalresources, we found both positive and negative effect on economic growth in thesecountries from1985to2010. This allowed us to conclude that the problem actually isnot the resources per se but the poor economic performance would be justified by other factors.Chapter5provides policy recommendations primarily based on the analysis inchapters three and four. This is especially for the governments of the Gulf of Guineato undertake a profound reform to transform the economy through the creation ofstrong and independent institutions, diversification, the consolidation of publicfinances and reducing corruption. It is therefore evident that Africa must no longercontinue to expect all from outside for its own fulfillment.