Libya's sky-high economic growth rate cannot be attributed to smart planning, a resource boom or effective governance. Rather, the North African country's 76.3% projected gross domestic product growth is only possible because of war.
Indeed, most of the top-ranked countries on the IMF's list of fastest growing economies were recently conflict zones. Sierra Leone, the site of a brutal civil war, has a 35.8% projected growth rate in 2012. Iraq (11.1%) and Afghanistan (7.2%) are not far behind.
Libya's elevated rate is possibly due to the restoration of crude oil production, which collapsed in 2011 as rebels waged a bitter, and eventually successful, insurgent campaign against ex-ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
Prior to 2011, hydrocarbon production accounted for more than 70% of GDP. But as rebels advanced on Tripoli, production fell from 1.77 million barrels of crude per day to 22,000 barrels per day. With much of that production capacity now coming back online -- and faster than expected -- a sharp acceleration in growth is possible, even if full economic recovery is still years away.
