Ghana’s star rising as Nigeria, South Africa wobble

In a week of where South Africa’s business confidence collapsed to a seven-month low and the World Bank raised concerns about slow economic growth in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, there is light coming out of Ghana.

According to the International Monetary Fund, IMF, Ghana will be the fastest-growing economy in the world this year.

The lender’s growth forecast of 8.8 percent for the producer of cocoa, gold and oil dwarfs the 6.6 percent median in a Bloomberg survey.

The IMF’s projection is contained in its latest World Economic Outlook published Tuesday.

In a recent comment on frustrations about Nigeria, Bloomberg wrote, “Nigeria’s success or failure in confronting extreme poverty will be pivotal for the rest of Africa, too — partly because of its huge population but also because of its outsize influence over its neighbors.

“The government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, recently re-elected to a second and final four-year term, bears a grave responsibility. One wonders whether a politician known as “Baba Go Slow” is up to the task.”

In South Africa business confidence slumped to the lowest level in seven months in March, when the country suffered the deepest power cuts in more than a decade.

The index measuring sentiment fell to 91.8, the weakest reading since August, from 93.4 the previous month, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry said by phone. The median estimate of three economists in a Bloomberg survey was 93.