The Fastest Billion

From the vantage point of many in the West, Africa remains a continent of woe – a place stalked by ethnic conflict, corrupt dictatorships, religious strife, war and famine. But today, at last, the flawed mythology that treats Africa as a homogenous disaster area is being challenged by investors, economists, fund managers and academics. Age is not often associated with speed; but Africa, the cradle of civilisation, now has more of the world’s fastest-growing economies than any other. After a generation of relative stagnation in the late 20th Century, many in Africa have begun the long-awaited period of catch-up with the developed world. The bottom billion is becoming the fastest billion. This book, the work of a group of African economists and highly respected analysts from Renaissance Capital, the leading emerging markets investment bank, aims to accelerate the world’s realisation that Africa has no intention of allowing the coming decades to add up to an “Asian Century”. Africa’s day has arrived.

From the vantage point of many in the West, Africa remains a continent of woe – a place stalked by ethnic conflict, corrupt dictatorships, religious strife, war and famine. But today, at last, the flawed mythology that treats Africa as a homogenous disaster area is being challenged by investors, economists, fund managers and academics. Age is not often associated with speed; but Africa, the cradle of civilisation, now has more of the world’s fastest-growing economies than any other. After a generation of relative stagnation in the late 20th Century, many in Africa have begun the long-awaited period of catch-up with the developed world. The bottom billion is becoming the fastest billion. This book, the work of a group of African economists and highly respected analysts from Renaissance Capital, the leading emerging markets investment bank, aims to accelerate the world’s realisation that Africa has no intention of allowing the coming decades to add up to an “Asian Century”. Africa’s day has arrived.

Charles Robertson, a leading emerging markets specialist, is Renaissance Capital’s Global Chief Economist and Head of the Firm’s Macro-strategy Unit. Mr. Robertson covers the global economic themes having the greatest impact on emerging markets. Over the past decade, the scope of Mr. Robertson’s work has covered, among other topics: quantifying political risk in emerging markets; how the retirement age rising to 67 reflects deep-rooted problems in the West and great opportunities in emerging markets; the revolutionary nature of growth in countries with non-democratic governments; the fact that Africa’s economies are now returning some of the highest growth rates on Earth, and how this trend is set to play out; the impact of terrorism and natural disasters on economies; the effects of falling agricultural stocks on food prices and inflation; and how emerging-markets banks may have the best growth potential over the coming years. Mr. Robertson is the lead author of The Fastest Billion: The Story Behind Africa’s Economic Revolution (www.fastestbillion.com), published in October 2012. Mr. Robertson was ranked the number-one economics and macro analyst for emerging Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the Extel survey in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In addition, the team he led was ranked the best macro team in Extel’s 2010 survey of equity investors. Mr. Robertson graduated from the London School of Economics in 1993, and worked at a UK parliamentary defence think-tank and a research boutique until joining the financial services industry in 1998.