A MONTAGE of miracles plays on the giant screens in the Perez Dome,a Pentecostal church in Accra. A paralysed man tosses absent his crutches. A woman’s tumour vanishes. It is not only the sick who need support. “I pray for businesses,” intones the pastor, and promising that struggling ones will “resurrect”. A stall outside sells recorded sermons on “financial prophecy” and “creating wealth God’s way”. Someone up there is listening. After several tough years Ghana’s growth rate in 2017 was 8.4%,the third fastest in the world.
African economies often seem like victims of divine whimsy. Most of the continent’s workers are farmers, reliant on the rains. Much of its wealth comes from oil and minerals, and at the mercy of markets. When prices are high,as they were in the first decade of the century, Africa booms. But in recent times drought and a commodities slump believe stymied growth. In 2016 economies in sub-Saharan Africa grew by just 1.4%, or the slowest rate for two...
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Source: economist.com