Mining in Africa: Are Local Communities Better Off?

Economic activity in Africa saw a remarkable upswing beginning in the mid-1990s. Growth of gross domestic product (GDP) across the region averaged 4.5 percent a year in 1995-2014, nearly double the pace in the previous two decades. Progress has been broad-based, with both resource-rich and non-resource-rich countries seeing brisk expansion, a turnaround that fueled the narrative of a ?rising Africa.? Indeed, the region?s growth performance since the early 2000s has matched that of the rest of the developing world. The spurt in economic activity also reversed the region?s declining trend in average income per capita, although population growth kept gains for this measure at modest levels, averaging below 2 percent. Several factors?external and domestic?supported nearly two decades of sustained growth in Africa. The supercycle in commodity prices in the extractives sector that began in 2000 was notable on the external side, and this enabled the region?s resource-rich countries to grow at an appreciably faster pace than non-resource-rich countries (figure 1.1).