Asian demand for African agricultural and mineral commodities will not fully compensate the losses caused by the West’s economic slowdown
Africa has picked a really bad time to launch its economic boom, says one finance minister resignedly. In Washington for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings on 23-25 September, he had just heard the Bank’s Chief Economist for Africa, Shantayanan Devarajan, talk about the continent’s ‘robust growth’. The Bank puts this at about 4.8% on average in 2011, with the IMF projecting it at 5.2%. Of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies, Devarajan explained, 10 were from Africa, including Ghana, where the start of oil and gas export should produce gross domestic product growth of over 13% this year.
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