Enthusiasts for the “Africa Rising” story of rapid growth on the continent have spent much of the past 15 years strongly denying that the impressive economic performance was essentially about selling commodities to China. That confidence is currently being severely tested.

Prospects have darkened considerably. Growth momentum in much of sub-Saharan Africa is petering out. The International Monetary Fund reckons that growth rates in the region this year will fall to their lowest since before the global financial crisis and recover only marginally next year.

Like many emerging economies, sub-Saharan African nations are discovering that a disturbing proportion of the rise in growth since 2000 was based on exporting expensive raw materials and importing cheap capital. China is the region’s biggest trading partner, and a fall in revenue from selling commodities there is hurting African economies.