Working Paper 84 - Ways of Using the African Oil Boom for Sustainable Development

Sub-Saharan-Africa is considered the fastest-growing oil-producing region worldwide.Production has risen by 36 percent in the past ten years (as against 16 percentworldwide). Within 2005 alone, the revenue of the eight largest oil countries of sub-Saharan Africa will be about US$35 billion. The oil revenues can give rise to a rentseekingmentality. Political decision-makers may focus on distributing the income on thebasis of private interests and not so much on putting it to use for productive developmentpurposes. This paper reviews ways the African oil boom can be used for sustainabledevelopment of the continent.