Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, including those in the CEMAC (Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa) region are endowed with abundant natural resources that hold significant potential for economic growth. But in many instances, these opportunities were wasted, and results were disappointing: resource-rich countries in SSA often have registered lower economic growth and higher inequality than those without such resources – a phenomenon referred to as the “resource curse”. A recent World Bank report, which expands on the research conducted by Cust et al. (2022) , undertakes a comparative study between the CEMAC region and other SSA countries and provides the following key findings.