Developing Countries Advised To Shun Complacency

Developing countries have been advised to invest the gains accruing from the current commodity boom into sectors that will bring development into their economies. The past six years has seen increase in the earnings of some countries as a result of the general rise in prices of some commodities. According to the Secretary General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Supachai Panitchpakdi, even though the trend it likely to continue for a while, it cannot be guaranteed that the prices of some raw materials such as gold and cocoa will continue to enjoy such rising value. The UNCTAD Secretary General was speaking at a session on the Changing Pace of Commodities in the 21st Century. “It is still quite unpredictable whether this boom will end, exactly when….we’ve learned that when countries become more sophisticated they change the direction of their markets,” he said. He said while UNCTAD works to streamline trade in the global market, countries that are enjoying from the boom must not be complacent but rather look for more innovative ways of dealing with the issue. He advised that money accruing from such gains could be channeled into other sectors such as education, agriculture and infrastructure as well as build their capacity to be less dependent on commodity. Meanwhile Ghana’s Minister of Lands, Mines and Forestry, Mrs. Esther Obeng Dapaah says the mining sector is not experiencing any gains despite the current hike in the prices of gold on the world market. She said Ghana is considering venturing into more minerals to diversify its reliance on gold and the other traditional minerals. That means Ghana is soon to start exploration into kaolin, salt, brown clay, colombite etc. She said government will establish refineries to add value to process the minerals.