Africa’s renewed confidence

According to this article (Botswana Gurdian) fears that the global crisis would result in a structural setback for sub-Saharan Africa have largely dissipated. Real GDP growth has recovered from the weak but mostly positive levels recorded in 2009, with rising expectations that 2011 may see a return to trend growth across most sub-Saharan African economies. This stands in contrast to earlier economic slowdowns in Africa, when weakness in the global economy had a marked lagged effect on African economies. African economies entered this downturn with strong growth momentum. Perhaps as a result of this, the recovery from the crisis also appears to have been more rapid.

Nonetheless, headwinds associated with continuing global uncertainty persist. Africa is not immune to the slowdown. With intra-regional trade estimated to account for as little as 11% of total trade, Africa’s export growth remains highly correlated with world growth. Rising South-South trade has cushioned African economies from the brunt of the global slowdown. However, more subdued growth in Asia and other emerging regions would pose risks to the African outlook. Click here to read more.