No longer a burned-out hole

Despite the hardships caused to African countries by the 1980s' IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programmes, there have also been benefits. Market-determined exchange rates, interest rate liberalization, privatization, private sector budget deficit management and the removal of price controls have injected new life into African business. Philip Eade profiles some of the continent's listed companies

In the early 1990s African securities markets were opened to foreign portfolio investors, since when there has been a reversal of capital flight. Slowly, markets are creeping on to the radar screens of emerging market fund managers.

“Africa is no longer a burned-out hole,” says Christopher Hartland Peel, head of equity research at Standard Bank, London, and author of African Equities (published by Euromoney Publications). “Crucially there have been no financial scandals, failures of stockbroking firms or frauds in the markets.

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