I like statistics just how I like articles on a law book. And this is mainly why I like Economy and Law. In fact, for me these are most important courses every student making it to University should study. Well, I know I am exaggerating, but what do you think? So, again, I like figures. But I am not good at handling them. What I mean is, I can easily forget any quote with figures such as the interest rate of Africa, the GDP of Cote d’Ivoire for the past few years etc. Nevertheless, any time I come across a publication, whether a book or just an article on an online media addressing a particular subject with figures quoted, I am more interested to read further as it looks serious and insightful. What does it mean to write on a subject matter like Africa’s development and growth without figures? Nothing!
In this article, I am just echoing some key figures disclosed by the African Development Bank in its 2023 Economic Outlook at the sideline of the 2023 58th Annual Meeting convened at Charm Al-Cheikh in Egypt.
The Bank’s annual report on Africa’s economic prospects forecasts that the continent will consolidate its post-COVID19 economic recovery with 4% GDP growth in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024, compared to 3.8% in 2022. However, these average figures are not the same for the 54 countries of the continent.
The report points out that the growth rates of some 22 countries will be above 5% both in 2023 and 2024. According to AfDB’s projections, Africa is expected to be the second fastest growing region after Asia in 2023 -2024, despite the multiple global shocks facing the continent. “African countries that have taken important steps on the road to post-pandemic recovery are facing new challenges going from rising food and energy prices to lower global growth and tighter global financial conditions. These external pressures are being felt while longer-term challenges such as conflict, climate change and poverty continue to pose major challenges,” flags the report.
Most importantly, this 220-pages report highlights the top five development priorities of Africa identified by the Bank as the “High Five” which inform the Bank’s 2013-2023 strategy. According to the Bank’s officials these five focus areas as align with the United Nation’s Development Goals and are quite important in improving the lives of populations in Africa. GREAT !
Now, back to the 2023 African Economic Outlook. The report emphasizes on access to clean energy commenting that Africa has realized remarkable progress. Most especially, it indicates that access to electricity in Africa has increased in seven years from 42 to 56%. In 2022, the total installed electricity capacity on the continent was 245 GW, about 50% more than in 2015. However, faster growth is needed to meet energy needs. With regards to solar energy, the report highlights, among others, the Egyptian Benban solar park as one of the largest in the world providing electricity to more than one million homes.
With more than 40% of the world’s reserves of cobalt, manganese and platinum, Africa is well positioned to play an important role in the clean energy production chains essential to the production of Electric Vehicles, large-scale storage batteries and green hydrogen.
Another emphasis of the report is on agricultural productivity in many African countries under the framework of the “feed Africa” priority. The report highlights that in 2022, the continent’s net agricultural trade deficit was $38.7 billion, up from $36.3 billion in 2021 and comparable to 2015 ($38.9 billion). “The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused shortages and raised the prices of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus fertilizers. Combined with rising costs of other agricultural inputs and high interest rates, this has created a difficult environment for African agriculture. Under these conditions, it is essential to modernize African agriculture by developing the processing of agricultural products and creating better job opportunities in the sector.”
I have pointed these two main focus areas of the report but you may want to read more. Feel free to download the full report or the highlights HERE.
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