Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Hear this text
Print
E-mail
Our Rome has fallen; rise up, Africa!If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of the West: and if Rome still survived, she survived the loss of freedom, of virtue, and of honour.”
– “The History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire”, Edward Gibbons
The first week of August 2011 will probably go down in history as the time when the American dollar effectively and finally lost its status as the world’s foremost reserve currency. At the same time, European leaders were told by the market that it does not believe they have a credible plan in place to deal with the eurozone’s sovereign debt problems, and the streets of London were burning with rioters and looters running amok.
It seems our modern-day Rome has fallen – and cannot get up. The wolves of Wall Street are picking her bones, and China is clasping her hands up in her new role as Queen Quantity.
America is no longer the sweet land of liberty. It has become the land of the fee and home of the slave. How the mighty have fallen!
After the humiliation of the United States losing its AAA credit rating; after watching the American stock market descend into chaos; after living for two years in a $15-trillion economy, unable to grow beyond 2%, with unemployment rates rarely experienced in the US – Americans have their first whiff of inhabiting an empire in decline.
It would seem as though the world of international financial relations will never be the same again, although it is at this stage not at all clear what a future dispensation will look like. What does seem quite certain is that a period of great uncertainty and financial turmoil lies ahead, in both America and Europe.
But it is not all doom and gloom for us down here at the tip of Africa.
The country with the world’s most sustained and strongest economic growth over the last four decades is in Africa – it is Botswana. In fact, the International Monetary Fund assessment establishes that the African continent will have as many as seven of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world over the next decade.
The McKinsey Report estimates that by 2030, the continent’s top 18 cities will have a combined spending power of $1.3 trillion. These are the reasons multinational corporations can no longer afford to ignore the continent.
I still believe that Africa faces numerous challenges, but those who have the eyes to see beyond these challenges are taking the lead.
So put down that application for Perth, Canada or Sacramento: throw some chops on the braai and crack a Castle – it seems our time has come.
