A lack of Olympic medals scarcely worries gold-rich Ghana, because the nation is a champion when it comes to stock-market returns.
The Ghana Stock Exchange All-Share Index was recently up 63% for the year to date, helped by strength in gold miners and other commodity stocks, according to its Web site. That's compared with a loss of 13% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and similar losses for fading emerging-markets stars Brazil, Russia, India and China.
From re-emerged South Africa to more incipient financial centers like Ghana, Egypt and Kenya, investors are engaged in a 21st-century scramble for Africa.
The bet is that these nations are ready to emulate the economic and financial-market success of the South Asian tigers during the 1980s.
The threats to Africa's emergence, of course, are myriad: The spread of conflicts and civil unrest like that in Sudan and the Congo, the AIDS epidemic and a crash in commodity prices, to name a few.
Nevertheless, Wall Street brokers, equity-trading platforms, hedge funds and even a compiler of exchange-traded funds are ramping up their business in African markets.
'If you look at [macro-level] risk, it compares to China in 1984,' said Charl Malan, head of African research for Van Eck Global, a money-management firm that started the Market Vectors Africa Index ETF, the first of its kind, in July. 'If you think the commodities cycle is unsustainable, then why is Africa sustainable? This time there's a whole range of growth initiatives put into place by various African leaders.'
The International Monetary Fund recently published a statistical comparison between a basket of sub-Saharan African economies -- including Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria -- today and a snapshot of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from 1980.
That economic cooperative then consisted of cub 'tigers' like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. In terms of gross domestic product expansion, money supply, and debt-market growth, the African nations compare favorably.
Those comparisons go beyond statistics: 'Just as first-generation emerging markets welcomed institutional investors to their equity markets, African countries are doing so now,' wrote David Nellor, an Africa expert at the IMF in the institution's quarterly magazine.
Organizations like the African Union have programs in place to stimulate trade and economic activity just as Asean did. Another key variable for economic development -- rates of primary-school education and literacy -- have picked up this decade in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Bank.
In a January research note entitled 'Africa Rising,' Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of sub-Saharan African apart from South Africa, touting 15 stock markets with 500 tradable stocks, led by oil powerhouse Nigeria.
Three of the top 10 fastest growing nations in the world for 2006 were in Africa, Goldman wrote, and, while acknowledging risks, the broker said there is good reason to expect the growth to continue. 'On the right path, but still a way to go,' as the firm put it. An updated note may appear soon, a spokeswoman for the firm said.
Van Eck's Africa Index ETF, the first U.S.-traded instrument offering broad exposure to the continent, mimics the performance of the Dow Jones Africa Titan 50 Index. Among the fund's largest holdings are an Irish oil company that drills in Africa, Tullow Oil PLC and First Bank of Nigeria.
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缺少奥运奖牌并不令黄金丰富的加纳感到担心，因为该国夺得了股市回报率的冠军。
加纳证交所网站称，其All-Share指数今年以来上涨了63%，这主要得益于黄金和其它商品类股的走强。与此形成鲜明反差的是，标准普尔500指数同期下跌了13%，曾经的新兴市场明星巴西&#12289;俄罗斯&#12289;印度和中国的股市也都明显下挫。
从再度崛起的南非到加纳&#12289;埃及和肯尼亚等新兴金融中心，投资者都在积极参与到21世纪的非洲股市淘金潮中。
他们断定，这些国家有望效仿上世纪80年代南亚几个小国在经济和金融市场上的成功。
当然，非洲的崛起也面临着巨大的威胁：苏丹和刚果等国的那种大规模冲突和内乱&#12289;艾滋病疫情以及商品价格暴跌，等等。
尽管如此，华尔街的经纪商&#12289;股票交易平台&#12289;对冲基金甚至一家上市交易基金(ETF)的编纂商都在积极扩张在非洲市场的业务。
理财公司Van Eck Global的非洲研究部主管查尔·马兰(Charl Malan)说，如果你看看宏观面的风险，这同1984年时的中国类似。如果你认为商品周期无法持续，那为什么非洲能够持续？这次所有的增长动力都来自于各类非洲的领头羊。该公司在7月份时推出了首只Market Vectors非洲指数ETF。
国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund)最近公布了一份统计报告，对加纳&#12289;肯尼亚和尼日利亚等南部非洲国家的现状和80年代时的东盟(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)国家进行了对比。
这个经济合作组织当时包括马来西亚&#12289;印尼和新加坡等“小虎”。按国内生产总值(GDP)扩张&#12289;货币供应和债市的增长等数据对比，非洲国家要略 一筹。
这种类似不仅仅在于统计数字。IMF的非洲问题专家大卫·奈勒(David Nellor)在季度报告中写道，正如第一代新兴市场欢迎机构投资者进入它们的股市一样，非洲国家目前也是如此。
同当时的东盟一样，非洲联盟(African Union)等组织也制定了刺激贸易和经济活动的计划。世界银行(World Bank)称，经济发展的另一个关键要素──小学教育比率和脱盲率──最近十年在南部非洲也得以改观。
在1月份一份名为“非洲崛起”的研究报告中，高盛(Goldman Sachs)对南非以外的南部非洲国家首次进行了评级，推荐了拥有500只可交易股票的15家股市，其中最主要的是石油大国尼日利亚。
高盛在报告中写道，2006年全球10大增长最快的国家中有3个在非洲。该行承认存在风险，但认为有充分的理由预计增长仍将持续。高盛表示，非洲前景的方向是正确的，但还有很长的路要走。高盛的发言人称，最新报告可能很快出炉。
Van Eck的非洲指数基金是首只在美国交易的投资非洲大陆的基金产品，追踪道琼斯Africa Titan 50指数的表现。该基金持有最多的股票有在非洲开展钻探业务的爱尔兰石油公司Tullow Oil PLC以及尼日利亚银行First Bank of Nigeria。
