Suddenly middle Africa – that large chunk of the continent between the Limpopo river and the Sahara desert – is in the investment managers’ sights. Watch for the swarms of tropically suited analysts bearing laptops, traipsing from one frontier capital market to the next in search of rising returns. They believe they have found one in Zambia, which last week became the ninth middle-African country to float a bond.

Despite Zambia’s unpredictable President Michael Sata and his ambivalent mining policies, its bond issue was hugely oversubscribed. Investors queued up with about US$12 billion. So the government raised the value of the bond to $750 mn. from its planned $500 mn. Almost as remarkable, the interest rate on the bond will be just 5.6%, slightly lower than debt-ridden Spain and Italy pay these days.

That reflects investors’ more indulgent views of political developments in new oil and gas boom countries, such as Mozambique and Tanzania, as well as regional economies such as Kenya and Nigeria. Most economists reckon that the really spectacular economic growth in Africa – as it doubles its population to two billion over the next 30 years – will come from its middle belt. And faith in the North Africa’s economies – save for Morocco – has dwindled. The killing of the US Ambassador in Benghazi on 13 September has spooked bankers as well as diplomats. And the political muddle in South Africa, where violent unrest in the mines continues to spread, is raising fresh doubts about its future direction.