Land of Timbuktu, the city of gold

This landlocked West African country saw rapid economic growth in the 1990s and the early part of the 21st century. However, growth stalled in 2012 due to a military coup. Come today, and this eighth-largest country in Africa by area, is striving hard to revive its economy by capitalising on its huge gold reserves.

TDB Intelligence Unit | July 2016 Issue | The Dollar Business

Turbulent Trade

That this African country has seen turbulent times is apparent from its monthly export-import numbers. While exports vary widely across months in CY2015, the country’s imports seem to comparably stable throughout the year.

TDB Intelligence Unit | July 2016 Issue | The Dollar Business

Gold from mali

Mansa Musa, the 14th century emperor of Mali, made a pilgrimage to Mecca and on the way distributed gold to the needy. His generous act though had the unintended fallout of causing hyperinflation across the region through which he travelled.

Timbuktu not so distant

Timbuktu (a historical and still-inhabited city in Mali ) in 1450 AD had a population of 1,00,000, double of the-then population of London, and was one of the greatest centres of Islamic scholarship. Sadly, today, the region has one of the lowest literacy rates in Africa.

Malian economy

Mali is the largest West African country by area, yet it’s one of the poorest countries in the world. Shocking it is therefore that Mali is the third largest exporter of gold in Africa, with the yellow metal accounting for over two-thirds of the country’s total exports!