I acknowledge the fact that the GDP per capita
is far from being a perfect indicator as it assumes that the revenue produced
in a country is equally divided among all its inhabitants. We know that this is
a flawed assumption in the World in general and in developing countries in
particular. This inequality in revenue repartition is measured by the GINI
coefficient (we’ll talk about it in a future article).
However, the GDP per capita is one of the only indicators
that allow us to compare countries with different population size and based on
the latter, the DRC is in a very bad situation even when compared to other ‘poor’
countries such Rwanda and Zambia…
Source: World Bank
Most of the countries used for comparison have
had a quasi-flat growth of their GDP per capita, except for Angola that have
seen a substantial growth since the end of the war and thanks to the revenues
generated by the oil industry (the graph was distorted by South Africa
presence, therefore, I have decided to leave it out).
Source: World Bank
When we look at the GDP in absolute term, the Congolese
figure is really weak for a country with such a potential. Years of war, mismanagement
from the authorities, low level of investments, the difficulty to do business
in the DRC, the high level of corruption are some of the reasons to explain
these poor performances…
Source: World Bank
(GDP per capita is
gross domestic product divided by midyear population. GDP is the sum of gross
value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and
minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated
without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for
depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current U.S.
dollars (World Bank).)
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