The EU could learn from developing countries on how to manage debt and promote growth. That's the view of Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, referring to the ongoing Euro zone debt crisis and the effect it is having on the African continent. Her South African counterpart, Pravin Gordhan agrees. Gordhan told the BBC recently that the damaging effect on the African economies has much to do with European countries being major trading partners for Africa, and Europe now being the "epicenter" of the world's financial woes. South Africa recently had its credit rating outlook cut to negative by Fitch Ratings while Moody's cut the country's economy outlook from stable to negative, both moves seen as being connected with the Euro zone debt crisis.

Reasons for this debt crisis impacting on Africa are varied. The high number of Africans working in the Euro zone sending money back home in the form of foreign currency, along with Europe's deep-rooted ties with Africa in relation to its colonial past, certainly play a role on the impact of the debt crisis on Africa.

However the fundamental reason is because so much of Africa's exports find their way to Euro zone shores, along with a sizeable chunk of foreign investment. With such strong trade ties to this market the overall negative impact on African exports are substantial.

When looked at regionally, North Africa is the most dependent on trade with the Euro zone, followed by West Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa and East Africa. Countries like Tunisia and Libya have historically sent almost three quarters of their exports to Europe.

The countries in the West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ) have deep-rooted trade and monetary ties with European markets. Despite the menace of falling demand from Europe, one saving grace is that the CFA Zone (comprises of 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Comoros and France) may benefit from the Euro zone debt crisis because of the currency peg of the CFA Franc to a waning euro. This could see the major exports from this region like crude oil, cocoa, coffee and groundnuts become more competitive in the global market.

In line with this optimistic outlook is the emergence of Africans now buying almost equal volumes of manufactured goods from South Africa, the continent's economic engine, as Europeans. If consumer demand from growing African economies like Ghana and Nigeria can shift to "buying African" what the continent loses on the swings it can gain on the roundabout.

When looking at the big picture, indications are that Africa has learnt to keep its debt at a sustainable level and is consistent when managing the macro-economy. These are lessons that Okonjo-Iweala believes would be advantageous to the developed world.

Europe needs to be aware of the vitality of the developing world when making economic decisions that impact the globe.

For Africa the lesson is to diversify its economies to avoid having all its proverbial trading eggs in one Euro zone basket and part of this strategy could be expanding the markets and trade between African countries. The continent needs strong leadership on the regional, national and industrial levels to make this happen in 2012.

The Editor