Africa’s economic performance in recent years has attracted much attention, suggesting the continent has overcome the “lost decades” of the 1980s and 1990s, which bred far-reaching Afro-pessimism. This recent optimism is an effort to re-brand a continent.

In the wake of the Arab Spring, the time has come to reassess political risk in sub-Saharan Africa

In a 2011 article titled “The Lion Kings?” The Economist noted with surprise that more than half of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies in the past decade were in Africa

September 15 will mark the three year anniversary of the now infamous collapse of Lehman Brothers. In its wake came a string of high profile bankruptcies and nationalisations across the developed world, with governments pumping as much as $1,000bn into financial markets to avoid a wholesale collapse of the global financial system. These actions, we are told, pulled the world back from the brink.

Six months from now, the world’s leaders will gather in Durban, South Africa, for yet another round of negotiations on the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change – who is responsible for the phenomenon, what should be done to address its effects, who should pay for the necessary adaptation and mitigation measures, how much and to whom the bill is due?

About two millennia ago, ancient Chinese architects used sweet sticky rice soup mixed with lime to make a mortar that gets stronger and stronger with time. Many of the buildings they put up are still standing today. More recently, China and the other Bric countries – Brazil, Russia and India – have been playing an even larger role in binding the world’s emerging markets.

Sovereign Bond issues have historically been limited to the more developed economies in Northern Africa and South Africa. But as sub-Saharan economies develop more robust fiscal, institutional and regulatory environments, more economies are tapping into international capital markets.

“to what extent can countries learn from others with similar endowments and higher per capita income when the global context has changed so fundamentally?”

Since the start of the millennium and following almost two decades of low growth rates, economies in sub-Saharan Africa have been gathering momentum. GDP growth averaged almost 6 percent, whereas during the 1980s and 1990s growth amounted to less than half of this.

Consultants, accountants, conferences and research reports are in unison vaunting the prospects of the fast growing group of people that make up the African consumer. With consumer spending in 2008 forecast to rise from $860bn to a startling figure of $1,400bn by the end of this decade, the African consumer is causing a stir with producers and investment managers alike.

These are exciting times for Africa. The continent is increasingly seen around the world as a place of opportunity for investment and business. Economic progress is taking root with annual growth averaging 5 percent over the last 15 years. Social progress is fast following in its wake. The fact that the continent has the planet’s youngest, fastest-growing and fastest-urbanising population is another attraction to countries and companies looking to the future.

Islamist movements will doubtless play some role in the political systems that emerge following the upheavals in the Arab world, but Western anxiety over their involvement is misplaced

Much is made of Africa’s oil, gas and diamonds. But the full exploitation of another natural resource could be even more fundamental to the continent’s future. Given the prohibitive cost of rolling out more fixed-line telecoms infrastructure, the development of broadband in Africa depends almost entirely on the efficient use of its radio spectrum.

Many Africans have seen their quality of life improve significantly over the past few decades despite poor economic progress, but there is no room for complacency

The signs of climate change are clear to all across Africa. Severe droughts are occurring in East Africa, producing climate refugees and jeopardising crop production and water supply. Changing rainfall patterns have increased the risk of crop failure. Coastlines could begin to disappear in West Africa as ocean levels rise across the world. Vector-borne disease rates are climbing and the fight against Malaria could be forced backwards as climate change induced prevalence increases.

Access to decent security and justice services, such as the police and courts, is as important a development goal as clean water, healthcare and education. Indeed, robust legal systems, independent and transparent judiciaries and clear, comprehensible laws are crucial for creating the conditions in which wider development efforts can take root and flourish.

Africans’ perceptions that Americans are too numerous are far less widespread. It’s highest in Djibouti as 51 percent of residents said there are “too many” Americans in their country and lowest in Benin (7 percent) and Zimbabwe (3 percent). However, relatively significant proportions of Angolans (37 percent), Sierra Leonans (30 percent) and Liberians (29 percent), among others, told Gallup there are “too many” Americans in their countries.

The lack of concrete steps to deal with global imbalances was the main news from the G20 summit held in Seoul. However the summit also included four innovations with the potential to contribute to sub-Saharan African trade and growth.

In October, the Brookings Institution and the Center for Global Development released their first Quality of Official Development Assistance assessment, based on 30 quantitative indicators. During times when many advanced countries are struggling with their own debt and fiscal problems, and are pressured to cut their aid budgets, Quoda is designed to help donor agencies and partner governments determine how aid dollars can be more smartly spent, and to provide a tool for civil society advocates to push for better, not just more, aid.

Despite the lift in its growth rate in the last several years of commodity boom, sub-Saharan Africa’s per capita income today is barely above what it was in 1980. The problem, the prevailing opinion goes, is not simply that the region has failed to grow but that its growth failure is due to natural and historical factors that cannot be changed – tropical weather, a high incidence of “landlockedness”, “bad neighbourhood” effect – being surrounded by poor, conflict-ridden countries, “natural resource curse”, ethnic diversity, poor institutions, “bad” culture and whatnot.

Since 1990, economic growth has helped to lift hundreds of millions of Asians out of poverty. This humanitarian leap was underpinned by the developed world’s voracious appetite for buying Asian exports.

Between 2000 and 2008, Africa’s economic growth was remarkable. Real GDP grew by 5 percent – more than double its pace in the previous two decades. Following a dip to below 2 percent in 2009, growth is expected to rise to between 4-5 percent in the coming years. The African Development Bank describes this post-crisis recovery as spectacular. But how resilient is it? And what does it portend for the future? Is Africa the next Bric?

To sustain rapid growth, Africa will need to substantially raise the rate of investment. In recent years it has averaged only around 20 percent of GDP, whereas the rapidly growing Asian economies invest above 30 percent.

As we begin to look beyond the economic downturn to recovery and global growth, it has perhaps never been more timely to examine the state of corporate sustainability. Despite the downturn, we see corporate commitment to environmental, social, and governance issues remaining exceptionally strong: 93 percent of CEOs in our recent survey see sustainability as critical to their company’s future success.

Given South Africa’s showing in the recent World Cup it would appear that Africa in 2010 is a lot like the US in 1994 – better at hosting the tournament than playing. Similarly, sub-Saharan stock markets in 2010 are a lot like the S&P 500 in 1994: poised for five very strong years of appreciation.

Despite the recent recession, mining fundamentals remain strong, fuelled by robust demand from urbanising economies, especially China’s, and by constrained supply for many metals and minerals.

Much has been written in the financial press about the draft EU directive on alternative investment fund managers. The usual focus is on the directive’s potential impact on remuneration and the additional regulatory burden it seeks to impose. A lesser-told story is the potential impact of the directive on Africa-based funds, whose investments play a key part in the economic development of the continent, particularly with regards to infrastructure. We look at the history of the directive and how it might affect Africa-based funds.