Africa's not an emerging market — it's a growth market

The story being told about investing in Africa is outdated.

The standard vocabulary — frontier, emerging, developing — implies a market waiting to arrive.

But in a decelerating world, Africa’s accelerating.

That’s not an emerging market. It’s a growth market.

The waning world

For context, nearly every major economy will be growing more slowly by 2027 than in the decade before the pandemic.

• China: from a 7.7% average in the 2010s to a projected 4.5%

• East and South Asia: from 6.7% to 4.7%.

• The US: down from 2.4% to 2.2%.

• Developed economies as a whole: settling at 1.8%.

• The world: decelerating toward 2.9%.

The world’s growth center is shifting. But many are still looking the wrong way.