The relative resiliance of Africa's financial markets to social and political unrest in the north, and to the default of Côte d'Ivoire on last year's global bond, suggest that the continent's markets have taken one more step towards greater sophistication. Investors are increasingly differentiating one from another.
Despite a sovereign default and the impact of rolling popular uprisings across north Africa, many are increasingly hopeful about the prospects for Africa's debt markets, as improving economic conditions and growing international appetite look set to underpin further new issuance.
Conflict, corruption and too many failed businesses left it with a sclerotic banking sector with little appetite for risk, but South Sudan hopes its status as a newly created nation state will encourage investors to rethink their approach to an economy that hopes to underpin its regeneration with its rich reserves of oil.
Fluctuations in oil prices have almost spelt catastrophe for Nigeria over the past year. The future of the country's oil industry now looks more secure, but the lessons of the past year have emphasised how important it is for Nigeria to strengthen its non-oil economy. Writer Daniel Maalo