Cape Verde: A Rare African Success?

Ndahani · 2010-05-03T19:36:09+00:00

Despite a poor natural resource base, including severe water shortages that have been exacerbated by recurrent cycles of drought (three major droughts in the 19th century killed more than 100,000 people and spurred emigration abroad, including, notably, to what were then thriving New England whaling ports like New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island), last year Cape Verde became only the second country ever to be "graduated" by the United Nations from the ranks of the world's fifty "least developed countries" (LDCs) diamond-rich Botswana was the first in 1994 into the ranks of its moderately "developing countries." The decision was linked, at least in part, to the revision of the country's annual economic growth rate, estimated in 2006 by the International Monetary Fund at 6.5 percent, to an astounding 10.8 percent, primarily driven by the light industrial, services, and tourism sectors. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is slightly more than $2,000 or $7,000, if one uses purchasing power parity (PPP) metrics making Cape Verdeans the most prosperous people in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). According to the World Bank, between 2001 and 2006, poverty in Cape Verde declined 8 percent, while the literacy rate reached 79 percent (97 percent among the youngest cohort). Foreign investment as a component of GDP is three times more significant than economic assistance and the country's foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2007, an estimated $343.8 million, is more than enough for it to pay off its external debt should it choose to. In December 2007, the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) cleared the path for Cape Verde's accession by approving a package of agreements which spell out the terms of the country's joining. Cape Verde is expected to become the WTO's 152nd member following ratification of the deal, which is expected by June of this year. Source: http://worlddefensereview.com/pham022108.shtml

Thread starter Ndahani
Start date May 3, 2010

Ndahani

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Cape Verde: A Rare African Success?

Ndahani

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