What Happened to Africa Rising? It’s Been Another Lost Decade

The series of coups d’etat plaguing sub-Saharan Africa — at least nine attempts in three years — plus a continent-wide political malaise have prompted some soul searching. What’s gone wrong? Many have pondered a myriad of factors, from growing Russian influence to ongoing corruption. But those are symptoms, not causes, of what truly ails the continent: economic distress.

An utter dependence on commodities has proven harmful. Across the region, borrowing costs have risen to unaffordable levels; Chinese loans and direct foreign investment are drying up; and the legacy of the recent Covid crisis persists. African finance ministers are having to make impossible choices between paying the salaries of civil servants, keeping schools and hospitals open or compensating foreign investors. People are fed up with governments failing to improve conditions.