Publication

Unlike in Asia, the manufacturing sector has not (yet) become a driver of structural change in Africa. One common explanation is that the natural resource-focus of many African economies leads to deindustrialization caused by appreciation of the real exchange rate, or Dutch disease as it is commonly known. Using Ghana as a case study, this report finds that in addition to short-term effects, Dutch disease can have long-term structural effects that can indeed impede Asian-style economic transformation in resource-rich countries.