Economic growth rates in sub-Saharan Africa have over the past 10 years started to catch up with the rest of the developing world, the World Bank said on Wednesday in a survey reflecting cautious optimism in the markets about the continent’s business prospects.

The report, Africa Development Indicators 2007, concluded that growth in the decade from 1995 contrasted strikingly with the “collapses” of the years between 1975 and 1985 and the “stagnations” of the next 10 years.