The prognosis for sub-Saharan Africa this year is bleak. Foreign investment, which at $53bn overtook foreign aid to the continent in 2007, has slumped in 2009. Commodity prices – the principal driver of recent economic expansion in Africa – have fallen sharply.

Remittances, a lifeline for the poor as well as an increasingly important source of hard currency, are forecast by the World Bank to fall by nearly 5 per cent. Tourism receipts are also down.