Author: Dela Tsikata, Ama Fenny, Ernest Aryeetey.

China, India, Brazil and South Africa are emerging as engines for economic growth particularly in countries previously left out of globalization. The rapid growth of China and India especially in recent years has raised many questions about the implications for the world economy and especially Sub- Saharan African countries. As the economies of China and India grow it is expected that investment opportunities in the consumer, agricultural, industrial, banking and logistics sectors will grow. However, the developmental prospects of other economies may rather suffer as a result. Improved growth in China and India will intensify competition in global markets for manufactures, and the manufacturing industries in many countries will be affected negatively. Without efforts to keep up with China and India, some countries may see further erosion of their export shares and high-tech manufacturing sectors. On the other hand, the increased demand for natural resources by these fastgrowing Asian economies may create new opportunities for traditional suppliers of these resources. The question, however, is whether Africa will be able to take advantage of these opportunities to translate the supply of resources into sustainable economic development. Trade and investment flows between Africa and Asia have been increasing steadily in the past decade and these largely due to flows between China and India on one hand and Africa on the other hand. According to Nduru (2006), bilateral trade between India and Africa rose from $967 million in 1990- 91 to $9.14 billion in 2004-2005. Trade between China and Africa has quadrupled in the last five years to reach $40 billion in 2005. The high growth of Africa’s trade with Asia is mainly driven by exports to China and India. Also, China’s increasing prominence as a major source of imports for many African countries raises a number of questions as to the effect on domestic industries.