The Future of an Emerging Africa

Abstract

Africa has been changing fast over the past fifteen to twenty years. Both the growth performances and the international image of the continent went through surprising U-turns, from widespread stagnation and pessimism to unprecedented progress and new prospects. The turnaround of economic performances began as early as the mid-1990s and led to a number of sub-Saharan countries achieving record growth rates for the better part of the following decade. In spite of the profound changes underway in sub-Saharan Africa, social, political and economic continuities were also bound to affect and challenge the region’s trajectory. Africa remains the poorest continent in the world, the vulnerability of its people regularly exposed, (Carbone, 2017) what future for an emerging Africa? Can we predict an emerging Africa by 2030 or 2050? According to Godet and Roubelat (1996), all who claim to foretell or forecast the future are inevitably liars, for the future is not written anywhere - it is still to be built. This is fortunate, for without this uncertainty; human activity would lose its degree of freedom and its meaning, the hope of a desired future. If the future were totally foreseeable and certain, the present would become unlivable. Certainty is death. Because the future has to be built, it also cannot be conceived as a simple continuation of the past. Good forecasts are not necessarily those which are realized, but those which lead to action so as to avoid the dangers and arrive at the desired objective. The future is multiple and several potential futures are possible; the path leading to this or that future is not necessarily unique. The description of a potential future and of the progression towards it comprises a scenario.

Keywords: africa, growth, finance, development, emerging, transformation, growth