The World Bank said that resource-rich governments in sub-Saharan Africa have the opportunity to make better use of their resources to finance their public programs, diversify their economies and increase access to energy.

Entitled "The Future of Africa's Resources", the World Bank report, launched yesterday, finds that, on average, countries capture only around 40% of the revenues they could potentially obtain from their natural resources.

The financial institution argues that, at a time when countries are burdened by slow growth and high debt, governments could more than double revenues from natural resources, such as minerals, oil and gas, by adopting a better set of policies, implementing reforms and investing in better fiscal administration.

"Full taxation of natural resources is also important in order to charge the full cost of environmental and social impacts, which are not always fully covered by producers, including oil resources. Not doing so can act as an implicit subsidy to production and increase carbon emissions. Maximizing government revenues in the form of royalties and taxes paid by the private industries that exploit natural resources, as well as attracting new investment, would be a double benefit for people and the planet, increasing fiscal space and removing implicit subsidies to production," says James Cust, senior economist at the World Bank's Africa Region and co-editor of the report.

The document states that the global transition away from fossil fuels is creating an unprecedented demand for various minerals and metals, such as cobalt, lithium, copper, nickel and rare earth elements, which are necessary for the development of green technologies such as wind turbines, solar panels and batteries, warning that many of these resources exist in abundance throughout Africa.

"However, experience shows that natural resource wealth does not automatically translate into inclusive growth and prosperity. Minerals, oil and gas account for a third or more of most sub-Saharan African countries' exports, but countries have struggled to convert this wealth into sustainable growth. Regional dependence on global commodity prices has led to sub-optimal management of public resources when prices are high, and to economic and fiscal crises when prices fall," reads the report.

The World Bank regrets the fact that, in general, countries rich in natural resources are less resilient to economic shocks than countries with fewer resources, pointing to the risks of a "resource curse" in African countries.

"Africa's Resource Future" recommends that policymakers turn the "resource curse into a resource opportunity", where countries not only capture the full value of resource revenues but also attract private sector investment, and governments prepare for boom and bust cycles by investing resource revenues in productive capital, people's health and education, and infrastructure that can support the diversification of the economy. (The Country)