Tuesday, October 7, 2025
23.5 C
Lagos

Debt Pile Looms Over Africa’s Fragile Economic Recovery

Africa’s pace of economic growth is set to pick up this year but the recovery remains patchy and debt levels are soaring, adding urgency to the continent’s drive to boost trade, experts told the World Economic Forum on Africa.
There are clear bright spots. Five of the world’s fastest-growing economies – Ghana, Ethiopia, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda – are in sub-Saharan Africa, said Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank.
Still, the macroeconomic threats to the region are growing as escalating trade tensions between China and the United States threaten a global slowdown.
“The risks to the macro outlook are mostly on the downside,” Zeufack said. “The recovery on the continent will remain fragile.”
Rising debt levels are fuelling vulnerabilities, especially as external debt is shifting from the public to the private sector, making it imperative to keep Africa’s growth engine humming smoothly. “For as long as you have improving growth prospects and for as long as you are able to contain deficits, then the debt situation can be contained,” said Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank.
The African Development Bank forecasts the continent’s GDP will increase by 4.0% this year, up from 3.5% in 2018, putting its growth rate ahead of the global average. But the World Bank has a more cautious view for sub-Saharan Africa, where growth is expected to increase to 2.8% from 2.3% in 2018.
Worryingly, growth in Africa’s two largest economies and its biggest democracies, South Africa and Nigeria, is holding the continent back. Kganyago said stripping out these two from the calculation leaves the rest of Africa with a much more respectable growth rate above 5%.

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img

Hot this week

Fidelity Bank Commences Disbursement of FGN MSME Intervention Funds

Tier One Lender, Fidelity Bank Plc, has commenced the...

Fidelity Bank Honours Afreximbank President, Benedict Oramah, in Lagos

L -R: Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr....

Union Bank Champions Employee Wellness with Stay Recharged Health Walk

Union Bank of Nigeria held its first-ever Stay Recharged...

Leadway: 55 Years of Innovation, Expanding Financial Access, Inclusion Across West Africa

Leadway, one of Nigeria’s foremost non-banking financial services and...

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Reports Remarkable Financial Growth for H1 2025    

Overview of Financial Performance  As of June 30, 2025, Stanbic...

Topics

NSE Receives Award for Promoting Financial Literacy

The Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday, May 27, 2016,...

Richard Branson May Sell Virgin America

Billionaire businessman, Richard Branson is considering the possibility of...

Ubongo Seeks Return of Children’s Education, Entertainment on TV

Ubongo, Africa's leading edutainment company has called for the...

Exploring Trust, Authenticity, Engagement in a Saturated Digital Space 

By Elvis Eromosele Humans are naturally biased. This makes changing...

HALL OF FAME: DS Innovation Hub Honours Ibru, Shittu, Ndukwe, Ovia

Empowered by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State,...

UN, Sterling One Foundation Lead Coalition Ahead of ASIS 2025

L–R: Mohamed Malick Fall, Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations...

NAICOM: ‘No Insurance Firm Forced to Donate to Fight Against COVID-19’

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has refuted an online...
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories

spot_imgspot_img