[ccebook.cn]The World in 2010

slide backwards. Global financial institutions need to ensure that African countries will still have access to
investment resources and markets for their exports. Rich countries need to remove the trade and other
barriers that stifle the development of African agriculture; they need to honour their commitments to increase
development assistance to Africa.
Victory begins at home
Ultimately, though, Africa’s future rests in the hands of Africans. The economic crisis has demonstrated only
too clearly the vulnerability of economies that rely on commodity exports. African economies need to develop
their manufacturing capacity, and take advantage of the huge, untapped market that they collectively
represent.
Of one thing we are certain: if there is one part of the world that possesses the potential for exponential
growth in the coming few decades, it is the African continent. This ranges from the extraction and processing
of mineral resources and infrastructure development to the manufacturing of goods and provision of services
for a growing employed population and middle class.
The prospects for Africa in 2010 are good. It might even be the year in which, for the first time, an African
team holds aloft the FIFA World Cup trophy.
Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
-73-