A year after the crash

Facing stubbornly high food prices, rising joblessness and investment cutbacks, Africa is lagging behind the economic recovery in Asia

A faint self-congratulatory whiff of a 'great depression averted' wafted through the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Istanbul, Turkey, on 4-5 October. Yet many of the detailed policy discussions between central bankers, business people and international finance institution officials showed that most of the world's finance ministers were still on rescue duty. There will be no early exits from fiscal stimulus programmes. The green shoots of recovery in Brazil, China and India are not enough to counter rising unemployment worldwide. Africa's green shoots are far off, as the IMF's latest Regional Economic Outlook for Africa underlines: average GDP growth next year is forecast to rise to 4% from about 3% in 2009. Certainly Africa is in a much stronger macroeconomic position after a decade of reform and a boom in commodity prices but that is little comfort to the most vulnerable countries. Currencies are more stable, budget deficits and inflation are sharply lower but few governments have used that as a platform to start medium-term restructuring of their economies....

(This article contains approximately 1609 words)

end of free article preview

Current subscribers: log in now to read the complete article. Misplaced your password? Then click here for a password reminder.

Not a subscriber? Then you can read this article in full either by becoming a subscriber now, for 3, 6 or 12 months, or you can buy this individual article.

Subscribe to Africa Confidential:
Buy this article:

3-month subscription
Prices from £205.00 (+ VAT where applicable)

6-month subscription
Prices from £376.00 (+ VAT where applicable)

12-month subscription
Prices from £705.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
UK & European Union
£17.00 (+ VAT where applicable)

Rest of the world
$27.00

If you have a print subscription already, click here for a password that gives you full access to the website.
If you are logged in, but still cannot access the full text of this article, email customer services or telephone us on +44(0)1638 743633.

Africa Confidential's reporting and analysis is valued by a wide range of organisations and individuals: from corporate executives, country risk analysts, national politicians and members of the diplomatic corps, to intelligence operatives, academics, journalists and NGO personnel.

Here's what our readers say about us:

"We regard Africa Confidential as one of our best and most reliable sources of information and analysis."

Intelligence Assessment Service, Privy Council Office, Government of Canada

"You are the best reporter on Africa alive. I look forward to your Intel."

Robert Stewart, CEO, Hawk Uranium Inc., USA

"If you want the detail and you want the dirt, the little blue newsletter [Africa Confidential] that drops through your letter box is like having your own private spook who knows Africa inside out and who's also one hell of a gossip."

Jonathan Miller, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Channel 4 News, London, UK

"Since the demise of reporting on Africa in Western newspapers, and especially in the UK, in recent years, Africa Confidential has become ever more indispensable to anyone trying to make sense of the continent.

It provides the context one needs to understand vast changes Sudan has undergone since the signing of the peace agreement in 2005 and the explosion of conflict in Darfur.

The scope of its coverage of everything from the latest mining deals and rebel uprisings in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the political crisis in Kenya since the 2007 election is simply unparalleled."

Karl Maier, Africa & Middle East Editor, Bloomberg News

Free article preview

A year after the crash

Facing stubbornly high food prices, rising joblessness and investment cutbacks, Africa is lagging behind the economic recovery in Asia

end of free article preview

articles by country