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Cairo and Tunis top PwC’s “Africa’s cities of opportunity” report

Africa Global Funds
March 17, 2015, midnight
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North African cities of Cairo, Tunis, Algiers and Casablanca are believed to be among the most dynamic and future focused on the continent, according to the PwC’s first edition of the ‘Into Africa – the continent’s cities of opportunity’ report.

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North African cities of Cairo, Tunis, Algiers and Casablanca are believed to be among the most dynamic and future focused on the continent, according to the PwC’s first edition of the ‘Into Africa – the continent’s cities of opportunity’ report.

The report, which was launched at the African CEO Forum of 2015 in Geneva, details the potential of 20 African cities, and is part of PwC’s global Cities of Opportunity series.

South Africa’s Johannesburg ranks fifth in this report.

PwC said that the preponderance of North African cities at the top is mainly due to how long they have been established.

“This has given them time to develop infrastructure and a regulatory and legal framework, and to establish a socio-cultural ecosystem,” said PwC.

“Johannesburg is the only exception to this pattern, its infrastructure and services are comparable to those of the more established African cities,” said the report.

According to Stanley Subramoney, PwC Head of Strategy for Southern Africa, this report assesses how the cities are performing “not only on a regional level but also on an international one, which is hugely important in terms of these cities being able to compete and prosper on both of these stages”.

“We have sought to answer ‘what makes an African city one of opportunity’ by developing a set of questions that investors should ask themselves and themes which city politicians and officials can work on to improve their competitiveness,” he said.

According to PwC, the African continent is crossed by five trends: demographic change, urbanisation, technological changes, the transfer of economic power and climate change.

Urbanisation is of particular importance, as by 2030, half of Africa’s population will live in cities where economic activity and growth will be focused and which will become communication centers and hubs for social trends.

The global megatrends are colliding across Africa.

“The growing middle class, strong demographic growth with an improving age mix, technological innovation that we have already seen in mobile payments and a growing choice of investment partners from the global south, as well as fast-paced urbanisation are all shaping what the future of Africa will look like,” said PwC.

PwC studied four indicators: the economy, infrastructure, human capital and population/society (which itself contains 29 variables).

Another major criterion of a city’s potential, according to PwC, is the vision they have for their future.

“Accra, the capital of Ghana, is a good example of a city that has a good reputation throughout Africa and beyond for the quality of its communications infrastructure, low crime rates and steady democracy,” said PwC.

Outside our top five cities, Kigali finishes at the very top for both ease of doing business and health spending; Abidjan ranks number one in both middle-class growth and diversity; Dar es Salaam is first in GDP growth; and Nairobi outscores all African cities in FDI.

“With 5% growth, dynamic demographics and a growing middle class, Africa is extremely appealing to investors. After undergoing a period of pessimism about the future of Africa with some exaggerated optimism, leaders today share a more realistic view of the economic climate of the continent. This is what PwC calls ‘Afro-realism’,” said PwC.

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