Mapping Africa's Natural Resource Wealth

Here is an updated chart on the main natural resources for African countries - great when teaching resource traps, primary product dependency and related topics.

Is the wealth that lies below the ground more significant than what lies above? Turning natural capital into sustainable, inclusive/equitable growth and development progress is difficult but a growing number of sub Saharan African countries have made notable strides forwards in recent years.

The weakness of world commodity prices is leading to forecast growth in SSA to be cut. Oil exporting countries are struggling but many non-commodity exporting nations continue to enjoy rapid growth. According to the IMF, "the full picture of sub-Saharan Africa is one of multispeed growth in which regional aggregate numbers hide considerable diversity."

That said, economic growth in Africa is forecast to drop to 23-year-low of 1.4 pct in 2016 according to the latest IMF forecasts.