Why investors should not overlook Africa

ON EMERGING MARKETS

Despite lagging their developed counterparts in 2011, emerging markets have outperformed developed markets in eight of the past ten years.

Within the EM universe, an area often overlooked but that is now coming on to investors’ radar screens is Africa. Africa has come a long way in terms of development in recent decades but despite that, the continent still suffers from the negative images of the past. However, even a brief visit to Africa would convince the visitor the reality is very different from the perception. According to the IMF, over the past ten years six of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world were in Africa and over the next five years, seven of the ten fastest growing will be African. Commodities h...