Despite the difficult and challenging global economic situation, African countries achieved considerable economic progress in 2015, registering a 3.6% average GDP growth during the year when the best performers in developed countries hardly reached 2%.
Africa also accounted for five of the world’s fastest-growing economies with Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania registering growth rates of seven percent or more.
These were some of the positive accounts presented to thousands of participants at the African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings in Lusaka, Zambia, on Wednesday, by its Vice President for Finance, Charles Boamah, and Treasurer, Hassatou N’Sele, who underscored the AfDB’s strong financial standing and preparedness to support the regional member countries.
However, the much-celebrated growth comes with downside risks such as persistent commodity price declines, inadequate infrastructure, non-inclusivity and global headwinds, which impede growth and underscore the need for diversification.
In 2015, according to the AfDB officials, economic performance was varied across countries and regions, with Eastern Africa at the top of the group with an average GDP growth of 6.3%, from 6.5% the previous year.
Central Africa averaged 3.7% from 6.1% while Western Africa recorded a sharp decline to 3.3% from 6% in 2014. In North Africa, growth more than doubled from 1.4% to 3.5% during the year, while Southern Africa slowed to an average of 2.2% from 2.8% in 2014, making the region the slowest growth pole in the continent during the year in review.
According to the presentation, the figures challenged the notion that Africa’s phenomenal growth in recent years was essentially derived from the commodities boom.
In East Africa, for example, growth was weighed down by instability and political crisis in Burundi and South Sudan, while the slump in West Africa was the direct effect of depressed commodity prices, the Boko Haram phenomenon and the Ebola epidemic.
In the Central African region, the decline in oil and metal prices were the main causes just as the acute shortages of power, climate change and low commodity prices negatively impacted growth in the Southern Africa region.
“Africa’s resilience at a time when frontline global economies were struggling can be attributed to strong public investment especially in infrastructure, strong domestic consumer base, a burgeoning services sector and gradual economic diversification,” the Bank explained.
The report projected the continent’s average GDP growth to 3.7% and 4.5%, respectively, in 2016 and 2017.
