Wars stripped about $ 284 billion from Africa’s economies between 1990 and 2005, roughly equal to the amount of aid money given to the world’s poorest continent, according to a report on Thursday by Oxfam International. In the study “Africa’s Missing Billions,” the British aid group said the 23 conflicts engulfing Africa in the period had shrunk economies by an average 15 percent per year at a cost of almost $ 18 billion a year.
Oxfam based its estimate on a calculation of the various costs of conflicts and violence, including higher military expenditures, loss of development aid, rising inflation and medical expenses of those injured or disabled.
It said, however, that the tally was probably on the low side, when considering the impact of civil wars on the economies of neighbouring countries as well as the long-term effects of higher military spending on individual economies.