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The first article which is the guardian expresses its reasons why Africa is not rising. The article gives reasons that will make us see the reality about African’s stagnation and failure to grow. Among the reason provided to show that Africa is stagnant is that there are classes in Africa and when it is said that Africa is on the rise only the elite group is being considered.
For the economy to rise both the poor and rich people should be considered and the poor should be satisfied that something is being done for them to live a better live. This article makes us to see that the poor people in Africa continue living a life of poverty lacking the basic needs like food and shelter as well as education. The guardian also gives important statistics about Africa that will make any person to see that Africa is not rising but on the contrary it is falling.
Among the people asked if they were satisfied that Africa is on the rise more than three quarters of them said that they were not and this shows that on the tycoons are benefiting from any growth progresses. Researchers into the topic found that the lived poverty has not changed over several years which show that there is nothing better that is happening in Africa and therefore there is no growth.
In a survey of several African countries, it showed that the situation had not shown improvements and thus poverty levels remained the same. Overall as much as there were some reported rates of growth, the lived poverty in Africa at the grassroots remains less changed. This suggests that either growth may be occurring but its effects are not tricking down to the poorest citizens.
This is a clear evidence of income inequality which might be worsening and the actual growth rates may not match up with those that are being reported. In the poll, fifty six percent of the Africans feel that their governments are not doing a good job of managing the economy and the governments receive even lower ratings for improving the living standards of the poor, for creating jobs and narrowing income gaps. This statistics show that Africa is not on the rise since it has such problems.
Most polls focus on the elite group and since there is an increase in the Africa elite group it is assumed that Africa’s economy is rising when the fact is that it is really going down. Some critics of this idea that Africa is rising argue that the boom is only benefiting the narrow elite group while leaving out the poor and jobless people behind. Therefore this first article does not agree with the fact that Africa is growing and on the contrary argue that the condition in Africa is growing worse each day.
The second article, that is, the Economist argue that Africa is growing in that business is growing and overall the economy is doing well and this one is as a result of the hard work of the citizens. This article gives an illusion that over the past decade among the world’s top ten fastest growing countries six of them were Africa. Also in eight of the past ten years Africa has shown faster growth rates than East Asian countries like Japan.
This portrays that Africa’s economy has gotten into books as one showing a fast growth and this might mean that most sectors have been considered. From this we see a sharp contradiction from the other article which will make a person believe that Africa is stagnant in its economy and only a few people will be lucky to show advancing living standards. This article as well makes us see that the commodities boom is partially responsible for the general African growth.
Another reason that makes The Economist believe that Africa is on the rise is because of favorable demography. This article makes us believe that African fertility rates are crashing those of continents like Asia and Latin America. Africa is expected to contribute nearly half of the population increase in the next forty years.
This growth rates in population will be expected to be important in the manufacturing industries which are expected to be increasing as well. And also since the service economies in Africa are seen to be developing in Africa growth in population will mean that Africa will be producing more and hence contributing to the growth of their continent. However critics of this wonder if Africa can be in a position to keep up if the demand of the commodities drop.
However, this article can share the same opinion with the first article, The Guardian in that all these can be interpreted to be just optimism in Africa and the really issue on the grassroots show nothing rather than dropping levels of the economy. This article agrees with the first article that the average lifespan in some African countries remain below fifty years which is indeed a sign of retardation rather than growth.
It is also thought that due to several resources found in Africa like gold and other minerals has helped it to grow even on a faster rate. But it is also argued that these resources are a major reason disparity in the income in Africa. Some rich people are controlling the resources while leaving others in dire poverty. Therefore while it is argued that these resources have helped the continent to improve, they have also become a major reason for income gaps. These articles as seen give a different view of the situation in Africa.