UN body spells out the potential blows commodity riches can deal to national economies

摘要

WHILE MUCH IS MADE OF THE COMMODITIES CURSE and too little of the potential, if correctly strategised, of the commodities blessing, a study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has overdependence warning lights shining brightly on both the African and South American continents. Unctad's State of Commodity Dependence study defines a developing country as commodity dependent if its export revenues from national resources contribute more than 60% of its total export earnings. Under that definition, it finds that two-thirds of all developing countries are commodity dependent, with one out of two African countries falling in this category.