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Africa’s rise is realKey drivers of growthIn order to understand the nature and potentialsustainability of this growth it is important to understandthe directional trends. The growth story began with theend of the both the Cold War and apartheid in the early1990s, and the initiation of a period of longer termpolitical, economic and regulatory reform across manyparts of Africa. Armed conflict reduced significantly,providing the relative stability required to focus oneconomic growth and development. Inflation was broughtunder control, foreign debt and budget deficits reduced,state-owned enterprises privatised, regulatory and legalsystems strengthened, and many African economies wereopened up to international trade.These structural changes have helped create anenvironment in many African countries that hasinvigorated markets and commerce, and is increasinglyconducive to business and investment. Furthermore,widespread reform, together with steady improvementin political governance, the commodities boom,substantially increased levels of disposable income,urbanisation, and a rapidly developing tertiary sector, areall contributing to Africa’s sustained growth path.Beyond the anecdotal, there is a growing and diversebody of hard evidence to support the view that theeconomic and broader developmental prospects forAfrica have improved considerably over the past decade,and that 14 years of growth has not been a flash in thepan, but rather a direct consequence of several keyfactors. Among the more important factors for us are thefollowing:6