Trade

Africa is rich in natural resources such as minerals, timber and oil, but trade with the rest of the world is often difficult.
Factors include poor infrastructure, government instability, corruption and the impact of Aids on the population of working age.
Poorer countries and agencies such as Oxfam also argue that international trade rules are unfair and favour the developed world.
They say rich countries "dump" subsidised products on developing nations by undercutting local producers.
And they accuse the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of forcing developing nations to open their markets to the rest of the World but failing to lower rich countries' tariff barriers in return.
But the WTO says that low income countries receive special treatment, including exemption from some regulations that apply to richer nations.

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Poverty

Poverty is at the heart of Africa's problems. This is an overview of some of the economic challenges facing the continent.
Most of Sub-Saharan Africa is in the World Bank's lowest income category of less than $765 Gross National Income (GNI) per person per year. Ethiopia and Burundi are the worst off with just $90 GNI per person.
Even middle income countries like Gabon and Botswana have sizeable sections of the population living in poverty.

North Africa generally fares better than Sub-Saharan Africa. Here, the economies are more stable, trade and tourism are relatively high and Aids is less prevalent.
Development http://news.bbc.co.uk campaigners have argued that the rules on debt, aid and trade need reforming to help lift more African nations out of poverty. 

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