By Collins Mwai
The World Bank has revised overall growth projections for Sub-Saharan Africa to 2.6 percent in 2019 about 0.2 percent lower than the April forecast.
In the 20th edition of Africa’s pulse released on Wednesday this week, the World Bank noted that growth would be hampered by persistent global economic uncertainty.
“Global uncertainty is taking a toll on growth well beyond Africa, and real GDP growth is also expected to slow significantly in other emerging and developing regions. The Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, and South Asia regions are expected to see even larger downward revisions in their growth forecasts than in Sub-Saharan Africa for 2019,” the report read in part.
The recovery in Nigeria,
South Africa, and Angola, the region’s three largest economies, has remained
weak and is weighing on growth prospects. In Nigeria, growth in the non-oil
sector has been sluggish, while in Angola the oil sector remained weak. In
South Africa, low investment sentiment is weighing on economic activity.
“Africa’s economies are not immune to what is happening in the rest of the
world, and this is reflected in the subdued growth rates across the region. At
the same time, the evidence clearly links poor governance to poor growth
performance, so efficient and transparent institutions should be on the
priority list for African policymakers and citizens,” said Albert Zeufack,
Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank…Read more>>
