Essay Landlocked Countries And Its Effects On African Countries

Landlocked countries in Africa suffer from economic decline due to the inability to access imported resources and export local resources because of geographical barriers. The majority of Africa is underdeveloped. Vast savannahs, tropical jungles, and hot climates make growing and transporting food a challenge. Geographical barriers are not only a problem of location, but also poor government operation and corrupt policies. African governments have not worked together to develop an interstate road system connecting country-to-country as well as country-to-ocean. This might be because of political and economic instability.
In the 1980s and 1990s, political and economic instability (perhaps a result of South Africa’s Apartheid movement) as well as poor crop production in many sub-Saharan countries led to a large decrease in agricultural trading (Knack, 2007; Heidhues and Obare, 2011). Many African governments faced recession. The recession caused many African countries to adopt Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). SAPs are loans given out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to assist developing countries in times of economic hardship (Heidhues and Obare, 2011). The SAP loans required African governments to reduce spending in the social sectors of health and education and focus on jump starting the long term and short term economy (Heidhues and Obare, 2011). Commitment to improving the educational system remained, but the amount of spending on…