David Pilling is an Associate Editor and the Africa Editor of the Financial Times. He is known for his  close-up knowledge of Africa, with a particular emphasis on Nigeria and South Africa and some of the continent's more promising economies from Ethiopia and Rwanda to Kenya. He is also an expert on the fast-developing and geopolitically significant relationship between China and Africa.

With some twenty-five years of journalistic experience, fifteen of which were in Asia, David shares his deep knowledge and insights on economics, politics, culture and development across the developing world.

David crystallised his experience living and working in Japan in a widely acclaimed book about the country's social and economic resilience: Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival.

David has had a long and distinguished career at the FT in many roles: a foreign correspondent, senior editor, and columnist, starting on the international desk. From there he was posted to Santiago and Buenos Aires before returning to London as Deputy Editor of the comment and analysis section. He was the global pharmaceuticals and biotechnology correspondent, before his seven-year stint as Tokyo Bureau Chief covering the burgeoning nationalism that was to lead to the rise of the Shinzo Abe.

His 2018 book, 'The Growth Delusion'' explores the pitfalls of how we measure our economy was nominated for the prestigious Orwell Prize for Political writing.