TAG: Africa
The fallout from the Arab Spring significantly dampened growth in Tunisia - from which the country still has yet to fully recover - but key sectors have seen a steady improvement, offering promising medium-term prospects.
Morocco has had success in its recent efforts to build up export-oriented manufacturing projects, which should take over from more traditional industries in driving growth, as well as provide higher-quality employment over the longer term. If the kingdom can continue to attract major investment in high-growth-potential industries such as automobiles, aeronautics, agri-business and offshoring, while also developing well-integrated business ecosystems in these areas, it could achieve the sort of growth rates seen in other emerging markets
“Abidjan is a boom-town with an exploding economy, shipping out great quantities of coffee and timber and manifesting a flair for making a real splash in terms of putting on the dog.”
That sentence (which prompted to me look up the meaning of “putting on the dog,” a 19th century phrase implying luxury and glamour, and referring to men’s stiff so-called dog collars worn at formal events) was written in 1971 by an American journalist of Cote d’Ivoire’s then-capital, suggesting the West African economy was on a fixed path towards prosperity.