Africa’s V — Valuable Resources

Mostly natural resources have the same effect on a national economy as a drug. They are "easy" sources of income to capture, especially compared to other economic activities, such as the agricultural or manufacturing sectors.

Such easy money more often than not breeds corruption. Why? Because the cash flow is usually wholly, or partially, controlled by government officials.

The world's most successful development stories of the past century are found in countries which are actually lacking in "valuable" natural resources: Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore.

There, the lack of natural resources — as well as external military threats — had a powerful impact on advancing the national economic effort.