Africa is a third world and developing country so it needs all the help it can get from other countries of the world. South Africa is more developed than North Africa and it is South Africa that does most of the trading and the rest of Africa that receives all the foreign aid. The trading partners of South Africa excluding other african countries include Germany, The United States of America, China, Japan, United Kingdom and Spain.
Africa mostly struggles with food items and basic facilities. It is often under the grip of internal outbreaks. Therefore Africa imports medical supplies as well as food items. The main imported shipments are machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments and foodstuffs. But they of course don’t get these things for free, they have to give something else in return, thats why its called trading. The things Africa trade are are palm oil, gold and diamonds, oil, cocoa, timber and precious metals, materials that other countries do not possess. Oil export has been the main stay for many economies. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, they can produce 3.2 million barrels/day.
International aid is any form of needed assistance from one country to another, and Africa needs all the help it can get because Africa is facing many problems and challenges today, the lives of most africans are surrounded by poverty, hunger, poor education, ill health and violence. The U.S. Government Agency are one of the many agencies that provides foreign aid for Africa, their main target is to reduce poverty and the promotion of public welfare and economic development, they alone save around 3 million people every year. Although poverty numbers have dropped these past few years rapid population growth means that the number of people suffering poverty keeps growing: from 280 million in 1990 to an estimated 330 million in 2012. It seems that the U.S. Government is failing to reduce poverty but at least they are trying and are saving people’s lives.
Other agencies focus more on poor education and on improving them, two out of every five african citizen can’t read or write. Over 850,000 people are taught about HIV prevention annually through USAID, which is another name for the U.S. Government Agency, and 40,000 have been trained to protect their countries for the long-term. Another education strategy is USAID’s population program, which serves more than 50 million couples worldwide.
Many people say that international aid is not helping and that it is actually doing more bad than good, But huge aid flows appear to have done little to change the development trajectories of Africa. Results show that this huge aid flow is making the poor poorer and that its making growth slower. It is shown that almost all the foreign aid given to Africa end up in bank accounts in foreign countries, foreign aid also starts corruption, causes conflict and also pays to kill innocent people, especially the poor and the weak. All of this huge aid flow going into Africa makes Africa look bad and even poorer because they ‘feed’ Africa in the form of international aid.
If you head into a market and are able to purchase South American bananas, Brazilian coffee, South African wine, and other foreign items, you are experiencing the effects of international trade. International trade allows us to expand our markets for goods that would have otherwise been unavailable. It is the reason why you can choose between a Japanese, German or American car. So because of international trade, all the countries that do it benefit, so if Africa trades with another country it’s not only African that benefits but the other country too since they are getting resources that they don’t usually have in their countries. So what is international trade? International trade is the trading of goods and sometimes services between countries and this gives rise to a world economy, in which prices, or supply and demand, affect and are affected by global events.
Trading globally gives countries the opportunity to be exposed to goods and sometimes services not available in their own countries. Every kind of product can be found on the international market, like food, clothes, spare parts, oil, jewelry, wine, stocks, currencies and water. Services can also be traded, for example, tourism, banking, consulting and transportation. Global trade can also make relationships with the two countries that are trading, and with this relationship they might help each other with an issue in the late future.
Global trade allows a wealthy country to do more with their resources, for example if a country gets a lot of carrots each year they could trade it in with another country that gets a lot of apples, so instead of wasting these useful resources that other countries can benefit from, you can trade them and help a country out. Global trade not only results in increased efficiency, but it also allows countries to participate in a global economy, encouraging the opportunity of FDI which stands for foreign direct investment, which is the amount of money that individuals invest into foreign companies and other assets. In theory, economies can then grow more efficiently and can more easily become competitive economic participants. FDI raises employment levels and theoretically leads to a growth in the gross domestic product.
Some advantages of International trade is that it creates jobs for people. People need to package, deliver and receive them, and these are the jobs that can be given to people. This also applies to Africa, it is a third world country and it doesn’t have many jobs to offer, so international trade can help countries other than Africa on job creation. Another advantage of international trade is that it attracts investment. Many foreign companies will invest in an office, factory, or warehouse to make trade easier and reduce cost. This investment also
creates more jobs. It also attracts international investors. Another advantage of international trade is that it gives us diverse products and services, A century ago, Oranges were considered a rare treat; parents put them in stockings for
children. Now, we can buy oranges by the crate at local grocery stores thanks to better
preservation and trading technologies. Foreign trade turns the world into a giant store, delivering food, fashions, machinery, etc.
International trade also comes with several issues like environmental issues, In Canada, businesses are urged by the government and environmental groups through laws and regulations to keep our air, land and water clean. This is a costly process so businesses decide to move their operations to countries like Mexico, where it is less Regulated. It also comes with political issues, Precious commodities such as gold, diamond, oil or farmland are so important for countries to have control that wars have been started and as a result people are killed, we can see this in Africa. Trade of these items has caused political agreements that do not help the people nor the country in the trading nation but only the powerful corporations that control the commodity.
International trade also affects the global economy. Every product has a world price, which is the price for that product in every country of the world If domestic producers cannot produce their product for less than or equal to the world price, then they will be unable to compete in the market. This leaves only the producers in those countries where they have the greatest advantage in producing the product.
Trade and aid are both effective for different reasons. From what I have read throughout my research I have realised that international aid only helps Africa survive, it doesn’t help improve Africa. International Trade is what improves Africa and it’s economy and it is the future for Africa. What Africa should do is with their income received from aid they should spend that money on trade. Trade is one of the most important tools to lift people out of poverty. More trade can lead to cheaper goods and services, increase production and jobs and provide more tax revenue that can be spent on public services like health and education. The idea that large donations can remedy poverty has dominated the theory of economic development, and this is what international aid agencies and governments still think from the1950s until today, And how have the results been? Not so good, actually. Millions have moved out of poverty around the globe over the past six decades, but that has had little to do with foreign aid. Rather, it is due to economic growth in countries in Asia which received little aid. And this is why I and most of the world, prefer trade over aid for Africa.
Sources:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/01/why-aid-fails/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/17/election-international-aid-policies
http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/africa/export-import.html
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/112503.asp