Angola is one of the richest countries with the sixth highest GDP in Africa. Nevertheless, the country is also characterized by significant wealth inequality, under-development, and political instability. A leading theory to explain this paradox is the resource curse which, is the situation that natural resource abundance of a country leads to a poor economic performance, poor governance, growth collapses, high level of corruption or political violence. Even though the resource curse
emerges in countries that depend heavily on natural resources like oil and gas for their budget and exports, it is necessary to indicate that it does not emerge in all resource-dependent countries. Canada, Norway, and Botswana are notable examples of developed and democratic countries that depend on natural resources. Rather the resource curse emerges in countries that have weak institutions at the time that resources are discovered.
DW Angola
Development Workshop Angola