Ken Ofori-Atta, Executive chairman of Databank Financial Services based in Ghana, says that although "everybody is nervous" to a certain extent about the state of the world's economy, we may be "". Interview.
How will Africa be affected if a double-dip recession hits?
Everybody is nervous to a certain degree, but it sounds to me like the machinery in place may be able to help sustain growth. The sense, at least in Ghana, is that people are much more worried about government policy (because it's an election year next year), [than] because of the euro crisis.
I think it puts it in perspective when you realise that the informal sector is about 80 percent of the economy ... The real economy sort of rumbles on, as it has its own momentum.
How could it impact the Ghanaian stock exchange?
The question really [is] what are foreign fund managers going to do with regards to their responses to what they are experiencing in Europe and America? Are they going to be courageous enough to be exotic and come to frontier markets? Clearly, their returns on those markets are much higher.
What we are seeing is a slew of countries beginning to promulgate their pension fund laws. We may be actually at the beginning of establishing a more robust and sustained investment regime in our capital markets.
Are there any things that Africa learned in 2008?
Africa's a ship that's not able to move quickly from anything or into anything. What we are experiencing is the appreciation that government should give a lot more space for the private sector to operate because that really is a more sustainable way for the economy to continue.
How will a downturn impact inflation?
I think we have the opportunity to really ensure that inflation does not go up if we concentrate on agriculture and make sure that there is food security and add value to agriculture. If anything was learned in 2008, it would be the issue of enhancing productivity in our agriculture, which really employs most of the people.
