But the foundations such growth would need are in disrepair. The IMF says that about half the countries in Africa are experiencing “high macroeconomic imbalances”, by which it means one or more of the following: inflation at 50% or higher; a wide fiscal deficit; debt-service costs of 20% or more of government revenue; and foreign currency reserves that can cover just three months of imports. Finance is increasingly hard to come by. Borrowing in dollars on capital markets is more expensive than in the 2010s. Foreign direct investment flows have fallen by about a third since 2021. In 2023 Chinese lending to Africa was $4.6bn, a rebound from paltry amounts at the start of the decade, but still below what was seen in every year of the 2010s. The share of Western aid flowing to Africa is declining.