Africa Western and Central | Mineral rents (% of GDP)

Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate. Development relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future. Statistical concept and methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs. These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Africa Western and Central
Records
63
Source
Africa Western and Central | Mineral rents (% of GDP)
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970 0.20914274
1971 0.23323633
1972 0.22245642
1973 0.23089437
1974 0.6370298
1975 0.45312589
1976 0.29332759
1977 0.50670051
1978 0.18803758
1979 0.23440968
1980 0.28856918
1981 0.1253429
1982 0.11770476
1983 0.14273914
1984 0.16125276
1985 0.1660596
1986 0.47197596
1987 0.40645409
1988 0.44230696
1989 0.57949292
1990 0.47406866
1991 0.48737158
1992 0.43827029
1993 0.38271592
1994 0.40207902
1995 0.13727048
1996 0.15922305
1997 0.137783
1998 0.12296267
1999 0.21079198
2000 0.25955151
2001 0.27764985
2002 0.27912064
2003 0.12389477
2004 0.15723196
2005 0.27921513
2006 0.41779601
2007 0.55366102
2008 0.58577879
2009 0.62878306
2010 0.77897422
2011 1.07740189
2012 0.96106956
2013 0.68774865
2014 0.5256711
2015 0.39876029
2016 0.53039702
2017 0.65749404
2018 0.58169429
2019 0.45417875
2020 0.58243782
2021 1.72095992
2022

Africa Western and Central | Mineral rents (% of GDP)

Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate. Development relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future. Statistical concept and methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs. These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Africa Western and Central
Records
63
Source