POOR COUNTRIES ARE POOR BECAUSE THEY ARE POOR Poor countries are poor not because they are poor but because they lack the essential resources which are significant for economic growth and development. The African continent is considered as the poorest continent in the world. This is due to political instability which tends to scare away investors thus stunting economic growth of a country. Some of the reasons as to which developing countries are poor are; corrupt governments, low illiteracy levels, dictatorship and many others.Poor countries are characterized by underdevelopment which includes; lack of access to job opportunities, healthcare, drinkable water, food education and housing. They have unequal trade balance which results from their dependence upon primary products.
These commodities are; •In limited demand in the industrialized countries – for example; tea, coffee, sugar, cocoa, bananas •Vulnerable to replacement by synthetic substitutes like jute and cotton •Are experiencing shrinking demand with the evolution of new technologies that require smaller quantities of raw materials.Governments of these developing countries have put in high barriers of trade. High tariffs prohibit countries from producing goods that they are most efficient in producing, and force them to provide such a wide variety of goods that they become very efficient. This keeps nations poor because they cut themselves off from technology and maintain low standard of living due to the lack of competition to produce high quality goods.
High tariffs and quotas keep foreign imports expensive and protect domestic markets.While in theory they protect a country’s workforce, barriers of trade actually make countries worse off economically by preventing them from being active in international trade. If these nations would lower trade barriers, it would allow them to import goods they do not efficiently produce and as a consequence, jobs and capital would be allocated to more productive sectors of the economy. Most developing countries depend on foreign aid for the development of the recipient countries. This results in exploitation and dependence by the poor countries.It has benefitted the ruling elites in Africa, enabling and perpetuating corrupt government’s hold on power.
For instance the national budgets of most sub Saharan African countries are dependent on foreign aid for up to 80 percent. This has led to a continuous increase in overseas debt since most of the government revenue is resulted into paying for the long term debt. Moreover poor countries are poor because of corrupt governments. This is because some of the leaders elected into power are greedy and selfish since they tend to safeguard their own interests.
They tend to embezzle funds meant for public interests such as development of infrastructure and creation of quality education facilities. This tends to scare aware potential investors as they are not sure whether they will benefit from their own investments. For instance the scandal of the missing education funds in Kenya in the year 2010. This led to investors pulling away from the country as they could not trust the government with their money. Low illiteracy levels have also led to slow economic growth and thus little revenue is received.This is due to the fact there is unequal distribution of resources in terms of educational facilities.
There is poor distribution of resources in the marginalized areas hence the young people are not able to develop their rural areas-they also fail to qualify for white collar jobs. There is also lack of access to job opportunities even for the well trained professionals. This is because of corruption in the places of work. There is also lack of political instability in most developing countries which makes them to be underdeveloped.Countries such as Sudan has had civil unrest for almost 20years and therefore they do not have the infrastructure to invite potential investors.
This makes it difficult to for them to grow economically even they have vast resources such as oil. Political instability also makes a country unfavorable to the international community since they have to send foreign aid inform of the relief food. In conclusion poor countries are not because they are poor. It is because they lack the efficient management to manage their vast resources. Reference: Probe international. org Wikipedia.
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