Huffington Post: Why Africa’s Oil Crisis Could Lead To Growth

The African continent has some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but some are seeing hard times because they rely on crude oil. Since the crude oil price has now dipped below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2009, the African oil-producing countries are facing some serious financial difficulties.

Nigeria, which has been ranked the 13th largest oil producer in the world and the top producer in Africa, saw its oil earnings decrease 40.3% between 2014 to 2015. So much in fact that Angola dethroned Nigeria as Africa’s largest oil producer, as reported by Business Insider back in May. However, Angola is also feeling the impact. When the oil price dropped more than 50%, Angola’s currency lost 37% of its strength against the dollar. FocusEconomics reported that from 2014 to 2015, the export annual variation had drop 44.9% due to the lower oil earning. Moreover, because Angola relies so heavily on imports the falling oil prices led to rising inflation rates.

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