Given a rapidly rising population, African economies must rely less on exporting raw materials and more on trading with each other especially through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
This was disclosed by Andrew Nevin, Financial Services Leader and Chief Economist at PwC Nigeria while speaking at the Nairametrics Economic Outlook webinar, themed, “Your Money, The Economy and Government Policies”.
He stated that this is one of the major implications of rising population levels in Africa, compared to the rest of the world.
What Andrew Nevin is saying about population
“Only place there is a proper demographic growth is Africa and there are lots of critical implications for the continent.
“One is the economic set gravity is going to rotate very fast. For example, there were only ten million babies born in China last year and 7 million in Nigeria, 40 million in Africa in total,” he said.
Another implication he added is that it has become impossible for Africa to become prosperous by exporting raw materials.
“It’s worth reiterating, the maths of having large population is that you can’t be prosperous relying on raw materials because it is only 5-10% of GDP”, he warned.
Nevin cited examples including Norway, Canada that have relatively small populations in comparison to raw material, saying they can be prosperous, “but you can’t have the entire African continent be prosperous on raw material.”
“The only way mathematically, to be prosperous is if Africans trade with Africans,” he said.
What you should know
- Recall Nairametrics reported last month that the Federal Government through Mr Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), stated that Nigeria’s rising population is a cause of concern in the future, warning that it needs to implement policies to deal with the rising population growth rate and keep the growth rate in check.
