Business
Is Africa Finally Rising?: Determining Myth or Reality
Media around the world have been reporting on a recent African Development Bank study claiming that Africa has a new middle class of 313 million, a size on par with middle classes in India and China. This news was trumpeted in the West. The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “A New Class of Consumers Grows in Africa;” a similar story appeared in the Financial Times entitled “Africa: Ripe for reappraisal.”
Meanwhile, the World Bank is also excited about African growth, reporting “Sub-Saharan Africa in 2011 has an unprecedented opportunity for transformation and sustained growth.” Further jumping on the pro-growth bandwagon, the Harvard Business Review published its own positive outlook on African investment entitled “The Globe: Cracking the Next Growth Market: Africa.”
However, some newspapers are not convinced that the continent is experiencing a rebirth. Canada’s Globe and Mail writes “Africa’s stunning growth can’t hide pervasive poverty.” A story on AllAfrica.com debunks the African Development Bank and World Bank reports, writing “the global financial agencies’ desperation for an African success story should be taken with not a grain, but a calabash full of salt.”
Recognizing, the multitude of challenges facing Africa including fragile governments and conflicts, poor infrastructure, corruption, environmental degradation, HIV/AIDs, etc, the media and, certainly investors, are still looking to Africa as the next frontier. This analysis will examine the state of African development, including its challenges, and will try to answer the question is Africa rising.
