Africa at a Glance: Facts and Figures 15th Edition

3. Economic Data

41 A FR I C A A FR I C A at a glance 41 Economic Data Economic Data C H APT E R 3 C H APT E R 3 Economic Data Economic Data Tables Tables Regional Economic Groupings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Currencies and Exchange Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Gross National Income (GNI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GDP Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Ranking of Countries According to PPP GNI per capita . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Composition of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Sector. . . . . . . . . . . 50 External Merchandise Trade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 External Debt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Development Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 African Recipients’ Share of Development Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Foreign Direct Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Transport (Selected Indicators). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Power and Communications (Selected Indicators). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Maps and Graphs Maps and Graphs Africa’s Share of Global GDP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Africa’s Subregions’ Share of Continental GDP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Selected Regional Economic Groupings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Infrastructural Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 42 Economic Data Economic Data FIGURE 18: Africa’s Share of Global GDP (US$) FIGURE 19: Africa Subregions’ Share of Continental GDP (US$) See Table 17 See Table 17 43 Economic Data Economic Data FIGURE 20: Selected Regional Economic Groupings 44 Economic Data Economic Data TABLE 14: Regional Economic Groupings A large number of economic groupings or communities function in Africa. The boundaries of these groupings overlap those of the continent’s geographical subregions. Tanzania in North-east Africa, for example, is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) while five of the fifteen SADC states are members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as well. Within the larger groupings are smaller groupings, for example, the seven-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) functioning in the Horn of Africa and the long-existing Southern African Customs Union (SACU), comprising five member states that also belong to the larger SADC. The smallest of the groupings shown here is the Communauté économique et monétaire de l’Afrique centrale (CEMAC), successor to a former customs union. The table also shows that COMESA is the largest grouping in terms of membership, population and territory while the SADC leads the others in terms of GDP and exports and imports. The common purpose of the economic groupings is to integrate national economies into larger regional economies for the common benefit of the various member states. However, it tends to be a slow process, especially the integration of existing economic groupings. An eventual continentwide economic union or common market is envisaged by the African Union that succeeded the Organisation of African Unity in 2002. Selected data CEMAC COMESA ECOWAS SADC SSA Start of operations 1999 1994 1975 1993 No of member states 6 20 15 15 Location of secretariat Bangui Lusaka Abuja Gaborone Population , 2010 (mn) 42 446 305 275 965 Area (million km²) 3 12 5,1 10 24,3 GDP , 2008 (US$ bn) 61 458 301 474 964 Merchandise exports, 2008 (US$ bn) 35 129 37 179 315 Merchandise imports, 2008 (US$ bn) 14 126 78 169 304 External debt, 2008 (US$ bn) 14 93 48 92 289 Development aid, 2008 (US$ bn) 2 17 10 12 35 Sources: Figure 20, Tables 17, 20, 21, 22 45 Economic Data Economic Data TABLE 15: Currencies and Exchange Rates Nineteen African countries are involved in regional monetary groupings with freely convertible currencies. South Africa and three of its neighbours have since 1974 participated in the Common Monetary Area (CMA) that excludes Botswana and is closely associated with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) that does include Botswana. In Central and West Africa 14 francophone countries use the CFA franc as a common currency. The CFA franc has since African independence been tied to the French franc at fixed rates and, since January 2002, to the euro. In addition, Comoros has its own currency linked with the euro at a fixed rate. Region/Country National currency Av exchange rate per one US$ 2008 Mid-2009 Common Monetary Area (CMA) in Southern Africa Lesotho 1 loti (plural maloti) = 100 lisente 7,8 8,5 Namibia 1 Namibian dollar (N$) = 100 cents 7,8 8,5 South Africa 1 rand (R) = 100 cents 7,8 8,5 Swaziland 1 lilangeni (plural emalangeni) = 100 cents 7,8 8,5 Franc Zone in Central Africa (Coopération Financière en Afrique centrale, CFA) Cameroon 1 CFA franc = 100 centimes 447,8 418,3 CAR Do 447,8 418,3 Chad Do 447,8 418,3 Congo (B) Do 447,8 418,3 Equatorial Guinea...