Prospects for West and Central Africa in 2016

Subject

Prospects for West and Central Africa in 2016.

Significance

Around a dozen presidential, legislative and municipal elections scheduled for next year portend a disruptive and, in some cases, potentially unstable period. In Ghana, pre-election spending will test official commitment to the country's IMF bailout terms. Elsewhere -- notably Burkina Faso, Guinea and the Central African Republic (CAR) -- political campaigning could magnify long-held internecine grievances, straining the social fabric.