Sub-Saharan Africa’s recovery from pandemic vulnerable – World Bank
The World Bank says Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic is still vulnerable despite the continent being set to exit the 2020 recession occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic with the continent’s GDP growth expected to expand by 3.3 percent this year.
The rebound in the continent’s GDP growth, the World Bank notes is currently being fueled by elevated commodity prices, relaxation of stringent pandemic measures, and a recovery in global trade, but remains vulnerable given the low rates of vaccination on the continent, protracted economic damage, and a slow pace of recovery.
According to the Bank’s latest edition of Africa’s Pulse, growth for 2022 and 2023 will remain below 4 percent, continuing to lag behind the recovery in advanced economies and emerging markets, and reflecting subdued investments to the sub-region.
“Fair and broad access to effective and safe COVID 19 vaccines is key to saving lives and strengthening Africa’s economic recovery. Faster vaccine deployment would accelerate the region’s growth to 5.1 percent in 2022 and 5.4 percent in 2023—as more containment measures are lifted, boosting consumption and investment,” said Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, Albert Zeufack.
The analysis shows that current speeds of economic recovery in the region are varied, with the three largest economies, Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, expected to grow by 0.4 percent, 2.4 percent, 4.6 percent respectively.
Read This: Ghana: Maritime industry players resolve to fully implement the Axel Load Policy
Excluding South Africa and Nigeria, the rest of SSA is rebounding faster at a growth rate of 3.6 percent in 2021, with non-resource-rich countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya expected to recover strongly at 6.2 and 5.0 percent, respectively.
A positive trend, the World Bank notes in the report, is that African countries have seized the opportunity of the crisis to foster structural and macroeconomic reforms.
Several countries have embarked on difficult but necessary structural reforms, such as the unification of exchange rates in Sudan, fuel subsidy reform in Nigeria, and the opening of the telecommunications sector to the private sector in Ethiopia.
Additionally, thanks to prudent monetary and fiscal policies, the region’s fiscal deficit, at 5.4 percent of GDP in 2021, is expected to narrow to 4.5 percent of GDP in 2022 and 3 percent of GDP in 2023.
