Africa Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Aubrey Hruby writes for How We Made it in Africa on why despite plummeting commodity prices and increasing insecurity, Africa is still on the rise:
Plummeting commodity prices, increasing insecurity in regional hubs (Nigeria and Kenya) and a popular uprising in Burkina Faso all significantly dampened the exuberance of the “Africa rising” narrative. In addition, the humanitarian crisis of the Ebola outbreak also affected investors’ confidence.
The fall in the perceived attractiveness of Africa in 2015, reported in EY’s Africa attractiveness survey, reflects these setbacks, in addition to concerns about political uncertainty, given the elections this year in 10 African countries.
Companies already working in the continent, as well as those looking to explore African opportunities for the first time, should resist the swing of the pundit’s pendulum between “Afro-optimism” and “Afro-apocalypse”. Instead they should take a realistic, medium-term view. Rapid economic growth is neither linear nor smooth, and there will be many detours and bumps on the continent’s road to prosperity.