Africa Home to Six of Top-10 Performing Economies Globally in 2024

Six of the top-10 performing economies in the world are forecast to come from Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund.

These include Ivory Coast at 6.6% and Tanzania at 6.1%, wo have have done a good job of diversifying their economies and attracting foreign investment.

As a result, the IMF sees regional growth improving moderately to 4% in 2024 from 3.3% in 2023.

South Africa and Nigeria, which together account for two-fifths of Africa’s $2 trillion economy, aren’t likely to deliver quicker output in the near term, but are both pursuing reforms that may yield benefits over time.

The IMF sees growth in Nigeria picking up to about 3% this year and next, while South Africa is projected to expand by 1.8% and 1.6% over the two years, up from a tepid 0.9% in 2023.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has embarked on aggressive measures to relax the country’s foreign-exchange regime and remove costly fuel subsidies.

South Africa, hobbled by an energy crisis, is finally making tentative progress on boosting electricity supply, which is expected to continue.

Analysts however remain cautious on Africa’s outlook in the immediate future. The pick-up in growth is coming from a low base after the setbacks suffered by the region during the pandemic, straining public finances and leaving many countries struggling with heavy debt burdens.

Those have already triggered defaults in Ghana, Zambia and Ethiopia.

Moody’s Investors Service has a negative outlook on the credit of African sovereigns because of elevated debt-refinancing risks, and because it expects slower growth in China to dampen demand for the region’s commodity exports.

Aurelien Mali, senior credit officer at Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group, notes that Africa’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product has risen to 60% on average. That’s back up to the crisis levels of the early 2000s that galvanized debt forgiveness for the poorest nations.

Moody’s estimates about $5 billion of eurobonds will come due in 2024 in Sub-Saharan Africa, with more than $6 billion in 2025.

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