From Resource-Led Export Booms to Pro-Poor Growth: Reformulating Industrial Policy in Africa

Two dominant features of sustainable development of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are continuing concerns within policymakers, donor-aid agencies, and researchers. First, many SSA countries seem to remain in the natural resource trap and exhibit weaker long-run growth (Figure 1), as well as an increasing rate of poverty and inequality. Second, deindustrialization has occurred in SSA (Figure 2), despite high economic growth and increasing demand for manufactured products. Taking into consideration that African policymakers have been very proactive in developing policies and programs for industrial development, and that today research has been lagging in informing policy to address the African deindustrialization problem, this research intends to (1) document the pattern of growth and industrial development in SSA by measuring the relative importance of concentration and unequal distribution of natural resources, and by comparing resource-rich and resource-scarce countries; and (2) design an alternative development strategy that coordinates efforts in broad industries and produces pro-poor growth. Case studies for policy simulation include the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.