IMF has released the list of the top 15 world poorest countries and 14 of those are African nations. But are African countries really poor? Burundi that tops the list is the biggest producer of rare earth. It also has gold and one of the best nations in Agriculture in East and Central Africa. South Sudan, Somalia, Niger are some of the biggest oil producing countries in the continent with over 2 billion oil reserves each. DRC and Ethiopia shouldn't even be appearing in anything closer to poverty. DRC generated over $2.8 billion in gold exports alone in 2025. Ethiopia's stats speak for themselves. The big question should be, is Africa really poor or it has poor governance and service delivery by those at the top?