More than one hundred financiers met in Washington DC for the annual African debt and capital markets summit on the fringes of the IMF spring meetings a few weeks ago. A decade ago, the number of attendees could have been counted on the fingers of one hand. In 2015, the interest reflects a market that is rapidly rising. Led by Kenya’s $2 billion (Sh192.6 billion at current exchange rates) eurobond issue, sub-Saharan African countries issued over $9 billion (Sh866.7 billion) of sovereign debt last year. This is a far cry from the $1 billion (Sh96.3 billion) raised by the entire continent in 2000. Market analysts are unsure if the eurobond issues planned by Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania this year will be outliers or trigger a further increase in the African debt market. Or whether market and an uncertain outlook for commodities such as oil, copper and gold will intimidate African governments and companies thinking about taking on more debt. Why the rush So, why the rush to go to market