Despite several challenges, including rising inflation, climate change, geopolitical tensions, food insecurity, and rising debt, Africa’s economies have continued to grow faster than the global average of three per cent demonstrating resilience.
The President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina disclosed this during the bank’s annual luncheon for ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions as well as representatives of international organisations based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Adesina said, “It is forecasted that Africa will account for 11 out of the 20 fastest-growing economies in the world in 2024,” adding that 15 African countries have posted output expansions of more than five per cent.
Analysis of growth trajectory across some African economies showed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.46 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The NBS said this growth rate is lower than the 3.52 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 and higher than the third quarter of 2023 growth of 2.54 per cent.
Ghana’s economic growth slowed to two per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023 from 3.2 per cent in the previous quarter, driven by a decline in the industrial sector, its statistics agency said.
The West African country is grappling with its worst economic crisis in a generation, with a sharply weaker cedi currency and double-digit price rises for consumers.
Kenya’s economy grew 5.9 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of last year, compared to 4.3 per cent growth in the same quarter of 2022, official data showed.
“This growth was mainly supported by a rebound in agricultural activities that had contracted in 2022,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in a report.
During last week’s African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, the African Development Bank launched its African Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook Report for 2024. The report shows that Africa is projected to remain the fastest-growing region in the world, after Asia, exceeding the global average of three per cent in 2023.
