Africa First!

Africa is a continent with boundless potential -- it has the natural resources, the population and the land mass to become a major player on the global stage. Why then, is the gap between Africa and the rest of the world increasing? While the continent has seen improvements in terms of key indicators of human wellbeing like infant mortality and life expectancy, Africa still suffers from massive poverty, weak economic growth, deindustrialisation, an underdeveloped agricultural sector and poor regional integration, among others. What needs to be done to unleash Africas potential and ignite a growth revolution? In this book Jakkie Cilliers examines where the continent is at and where it will be in 2040 if it continues on the current path. He sets that against the 11 scenarios he develops that could help to turn Africas fortunes around and radically improve its growth trajectory. His isnt a blue skies approach -- Cilliers shows exactly which policy, political, technological and economic interventions are needed to put Africa first. Yes, it is possible for the 55 countries on the continent to catch up with the rest world, although it will require a large measure of leapfrogging. This is a book that is bound to become an authoritative guide for policy makers and researchers.