Africa Faces Mounting Risks Just as Growth Gains Take Hold
you are currently viewing::Africa Faces Mounting Risks Just as Growth Gains Take HoldApril 23, 2026- To weather the shock, policymakers should ensure that any near-term measures are time-bound and targeted at the most vulnerable, and maintain the focus on medium-term development objectives. Countries such as Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Rwanda led the charge, with growth exceeding 6 percent. The median inflation rate fell to about 3.5 percent and public debt levels had started to decline. These gains were hard-won, the fruit of politically difficult but meaningful reforms such as exchange-rate realignments, better spending allocation, and tighter monetary policies. Progress on the fiscal front has been particularly impressive. The region's general government primary balance has been steadily improving and is now near balance. By contrast, primary deficits in both advanced economies and other emerging markets remained noticeably wider in 2025 than before the pandemic. Source: imf.org |
August 10, 2026---Câte d'Ivoire remains largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), expected to grow by 6.5% in 2025
West Africa demonstrated economic resilience in 2025, recording growth of 4.8%, above the continental average of 4.4%, amid geopolitical tensions, insecurity in parts of the region, increasing fragmentation of the global economy and heightened volatility in international financial markets.
August 10, 2026---Chairman of the House Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters, Ahamadu Usman Jaha, has said Nigeria's fintech ecosystem has become one of the largest in Africa, noting that the country's growing payment ecosystem continues to attract significant investment.
August 6, 2026--Zimbabwe ended last month as Africa's best-performing equity market, overtaking Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation, after months of sustained gains driven by easing inflation, a more stable domestic currency, and renewed investor appetite for local equities.
August 5, 2026--The Nairobi Securities Exchange is building East Africa's first exchange traded fund focused on AI stocks, with plans to offer it to investors before year-end- though its chief executive says the launch could be delayed if the global AI rally starts to look overdone.