Natural resources, market volatility and African development policy:a shared agenda

Chapter 16 argues that African nations’ policy and programmatic priorities should be finding ways to avoid the problems that have plagued other commodity producers and improving their success indicators. For African economies to maintain a “stabilized” development trajectory in the face of market instability, this chapter proposes policy initiatives. The chapter addresses why African economies continue to be prone to boom-and-bust cycles given their dependence on the primary sector and the traditional economy. It addresses how natural resources contribute to the development of the continent and offers policy considerations and tools that make resources beneficial for African development.