In this post I am going to discuss Mali’s economy, which is
a very disheartening topic because Mali is one of the twenty-five poorest
nations in the world. Mali is
landlocked, making international trade difficult. However, Mali’s biggest trading partner is China who makes up 27.2%
of their exports per year. The
other countries that Mali exports to only represent less than 10% of total
exports each, and the majority of the export nations are in Asia. The three commodities that Mali exports most are livestock,
cotton, and gold as 80% of Mali’s population either fishes or farms. As a result, when the prices of those
commodities fluctuate, or when the country does not have good weather during
harvest season, Mali’s economic well-being suffers. Furthermore, although agricultural harvests are a staple of
their economy, Mali does not have abundant space to cultivate such harvests. 65%
of Mali’s land is desert or semi-desert but the agricultural activity that does
occur takes place by the Niger River (CIA).
A man mining for gold.
http://cdn.madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/african-gold-miners.jpg
In an attempt to diversify and
protect their economy, Mali is developing their cotton and iron ore production
capabilities. Hopefully this
effort will be successful, because currently 30% of Mali’s population is
unemployed and 36.1% lives below the poverty
line. Previously, Mali made an
effort to invest in the tourism industry, but their lack of security has deterred
tourists (CIA).
Another
unfortunate factor that Mali has to deal with is that they are very dependent
on other countries for many important products that are necessary to sustain
their industries and their society overall. They import petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction
materials, foodstuffs, and textiles.
They import these goods from Senegal at 13.6% France at 11% and China at
6.8%. In addition to importing
essential goods, Mali receives financial assistance from many
international organizations including the IMF, the World Bank, and the African
Development Bank (CIA). If it was cut off from the outside world, Mali would rapidly sink into deep turmoil; Mali greatly relies on outside nations and organizations to sustain their economy.
Source: The CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ml.html
Source: The CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ml.html
Based on the situation on Mali, I agree with you that the economy of Mali is very disheartening. It is sad to just see people try to make a living and want to make a living but are not able too or do not have the necessary resources for it. Even based on the picture, you can see the man does not even have a shovel to mine for gold, it looks like he is shoveling with a pot. This makes me mad at the same time because they are trying their best to make a living and compare to how we are in the US, we are so fortunate. Hopefully they are able to pick themselves up somehow and I would like to keep updated on the economy of Mali, to see some improvements in their stability.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you agree, Huy. It is so sad and very hard to learn about the lives of these people who have so much potential but are born into a situation where they do not have the resources to cultivate that potential. Despite their hard work, the country of Mali is just barely getting by and citizens are living in poverty and without adequate money to provide for their families daily. Even worse, given the current political upheaval in Mali and destabilization of the constitutional government, it is unlikely that this economic situation will improve anytime soon. While the previous president had made great strides in working with international organizations to secure support and funding for Mali, he has now been removed from the country's affairs, and we can only hope that the new president will have the same goals in mind as the previous. Like you, I wish there was a direct and obvious way to improve the lives of these people, but it is unfortunately a very complicated situation that sadly is likely to persist.
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