The Africans Time on Sovereign Risk, Reform and Economic Credibility
There is a particular silence that settles over a room when a finance minister finishes speaking to investors and the questions begin. The presentation may have been polished. The debt charts may have looked manageable from a distance. Growth projections may have been framed with confidence. Then someone in the back asks about off balance sheet liabilities, arrears to contractors, the central bank’s net reserves, or the politics of fuel subsidies before an election. That is