The low price in oil has been changing the economic balance of power in Africa. Major petroleum exporters like Nigeria and Angola which have benefited in the past from high fuel prices are not being hit hard. African countries with more diversified economies like Ethiopia and Tanzania have been more resilient to lower commodity prices and have been attracting more investment. The countries that failed to diversify their economies during the oil boom period are now having to deal with rising levels of unemployment, inflation, and popular discontent. Countries that have put effort into diversifying their economies by developing their service and industrial sectors have been less negatively impacted by the drop in commodity prices. This is causing a shift in the balance of economic power from West Africa to East Africa.
See Luke Patey, Africa’s Petrostates Are Imploding, Foreign Policy, April 4, 2016.
