Country risk Sep 2000: Waiting for the dust to settle

A surge in political unrest throughout Africa has brought several of its states crashing down in the latest country risk rankings.Swaziland (117), Togo (143), Mali (147) and Niger (155) have all dropped over 30 places and Tanzania (141) is down 28, indicating that something is not right on the African continent. Africa has never been noted for political stability, but falls like this indicate that analysts are paying closer attention to just how unstable these countries can be. Investors may be turning their backs on states threatened with continual ethnic and religious conflict, and coups d’états because of weak central governments, and dangerously corrupt militaries. “It’s political risk and the psychological contagion factor,” says Mike O’Leary, director of the Political Risk Group (PRS). “Because of really horrendous conditions in some headline countries such as Zimbabwe, the whole regions...