AFRICA/ANGOLA - Luanda, the most expensive city in the world where many do not have anything and just few have everything

Luanda (Agenzia Fides) - In 2010, Luanda was ranked as the most expensive city in the world, even before Geneva, Moscow or Tokyo. Unfortunately, the quality of life of African citizens is not remotely comparable to that of the inhabitants of the three centers mentioned.
The Angolan capital is home to over 5 million people, of whom more than 80% live in poverty, only 30% of households have drinking water and two-thirds of the population survives on just 1.4 euro per day. Years of change, natural evolutions have made Angola one of the largest reserves of natural resources in the world. It is the second oil-producing Country of the African continent, it has the most important diamond mines in the world, in addition to abundant raw material resources. At the same time, however, 30 years of war were enough to reduce it in conditions of absolute poverty. Besides the war, among the key factors that led to this result was the total destruction of local industries. 90% of the products are imported. Corruption is another serious problem. In fact, markets in Angola are monopolized. It is one of the 20 most corrupt Countries in the world. To make the situation even worse is also the lack of balance between the huge investments made to improve the extraction of raw materials and the almost total lack of interest towards schools, hospitals or roads. Foreign companies involved are not interested in the development of the population, but think about how to obtain the best contracts that guarantee them to control the Country's future. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 24/08/2013)