News Investigators/ The United Nations says Africa faces an estimated 2.1 trillion dollars economic cost from its inability to fully control and capture the value of its strategic resources.
President of the UN General Assembly, Khalilur Rahman, disclosed this on Monday while opening a high-level debate on Africa’s development and international support.
Mr Rahman said Africa’s development challenges were increasingly linked to weaknesses in institutions responsible for managing natural resources, financial assets and economic opportunities.
He described the problem as a sovereignty deficit, involving the difference between ownership of resources and the capacity to manage their economic benefits.
According to him, a report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres estimated the cost of the deficit at approximately 2.1 trillion dollars.
The figure contrasts sharply with the approximately 97 billion dollars in foreign direct investment received by the continent, the General Assembly President said.
He warned that Africa’s considerable natural and economic endowments were generating substantial financial outflows instead of delivering corresponding benefits to its population.
The UN official said African countries currently captured, on average, only about 40 per cent of the potential revenue generated by their resource wealth.
He explained that the inability to retain greater economic value deprived governments of resources needed for education, healthcare, infrastructure and employment.
Mr Rahman made the observations during the General Assembly’s joint debate on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
The debate considered two reports by the Secretary-General addressing Africa’s development progress, international cooperation and the relationship between sustainable development and lasting peace.
The General Assembly President urged African governments to strengthen institutions responsible for negotiating resource agreements, administering taxation and preventing illicit financial flows.
He maintained that stronger national institutions would help countries negotiate fairer contracts and ensure that resource exploitation served public interests.
Mr Rahman also advocated greater investment in local processing and manufacturing to reduce Africa’s dependence on exporting raw materials.
He said the continent should move away from short-term resource extraction towards long-term economic stewardship and industrial development.
He stressed that Africa’s greatest asset remained its people, particularly its rapidly expanding population of young people.
According to him, one in every three young people worldwide is projected to be African by 2050.
Mr Rahman said translating this demographic advantage into economic prosperity would require sustained investment in education, healthcare, technology, skills and decent employment.
He also highlighted the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area to accelerate economic transformation.
The UN official estimated that full implementation of the agreement could increase Africa’s real income by approximately seven per cent, equivalent to 450 billion dollars, by 2035.
However, he warned that declining international development assistance and rising debt obligations were undermining the continent’s ability to finance development.
Citing preliminary figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Rahman said bilateral development assistance to Africa fell to 29 billion dollars in 2025.
The decline represented a 23.9 per cent reduction from the previous year, while Africa’s external debt-service obligations were projected at 88.7 dollars billion.
He called for increased concessional financing and reforms to international debt-resolution mechanisms to reduce financial pressures on African governments.
Mr Rahman also urged the UN system to strengthen cooperation with African institutions and employ more qualified African professionals in development and humanitarian operations.
“Africa has resources. Africa has people. Africa has ambition,” Rahman declared.
He urged governments and international partners to ensure that Africa’s strategic assets translated into sustainable development, economic opportunities and lasting peace.
NAN
