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Contents

October 2008 ISSUE 346 WWW.AFRICASIA.COM

14 Cover Story Africa's Top 100 Banks/2008 Rankings

Editorial  13 Strong regulators are vital

Cover Story Africa’s Top 100 Banks 14 African Business’ annual rankings 17 How we ranked the banks & glossary 18 A world-class industry in the making 20 Africa’s Top 100 Banks table

Region by region 28 NorthAfrica: Competition would spur growth 29 WestAfrica: Nigeria is still king of the hill 30 CentralAfrica: Sudan joins the banking revolution 32 EastAfrica: Kenya leads but Ethiopia is pressing 34 SouthernAfrica: Angola leads best of the rest

39 Port of Abidjan regains its regional importance

Telecoms 42 Zain — rebranding an icon 44 Is triple play the answer?

SADC 46 Regional integration a step closer

Milestone 48 In memoriam: Levy Mwanawasa

Construction 50 Cities of Lights — dream or reality?

Topic 52 GM foods: Hobson’s choice for Africa

Commodities 54 Are metal markets irrational?

2010 World Cup Watch 58 Scramble for the big time

Trends 60 China-Africa: When the going gets tough

Spotlight 64 European and African MPs form common front

Countryfiles 70 SouthAfrica:Robben Island in troubled waters 72 Kenya: Sunshine for airstrip safety 74 Nigeria: Manufacturing under stress 75 Ghana: A business friendly environment

Reviews Books/Music 80 Africa’s beautiful game 82 Bamako’s Rail Band