June, 2022

There is a clear difference between the economic performance reporting system of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the reporting system of some of the former British African colonial countries. The difference, in many cases, will have great implications on revenue calculations, and also on the percentage of national budget allocations to each of the three sectors of national economies.

The 2021 report on World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) indicated that “journalism is completely or partially blocked in 73% of the 180 countries ranked by the organization, and constrained in 59 others.”

The World Bank assigns the economies of the world into four classes on July 1st of every year by considering changes in the following factors: Economic growth, inflation, exchange rates and population growth. The four classes are Low-income economies; Lower middle economies, Upper middle economies; and High-income economies.

Africa’s population is projected to double to 2.5 billion by the year 2050. Of this number, 70 percent will be under the age of 30, making Africa the youngest continent in the world. The projected 70 percent youth population, representing 1.75 billion youthful persons, signals the urgency for creative solutions for solving this looming population problem beginning from now into the next twenty-eight years.