Niger, Senegal ranked as top economic performers in Africa
Niger and Senegal have emerged as the top economic performers in Africa for the year 2024. Niger’s economic outlook has been projected at 11.2%, the highest on the list according to an African Development Bank (AfDB) report titled Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook (MEO).
Senegal follows with 8.2% as the second highest.
Libya, Rwanda and Cote Ivoire follow with 7.9 and 7.2 and 6.8% respectively. Ethiopia ranks 6th with 6.7%, Benin 7th with 6.4%, and Djibouti 8th with 6.2%.
Tanzania ranked 9th with a projection of 6.1% ahead of its East African peers Uganda and Kenya. Togo and Uganda followed as 10th and 11th with projected growth of 6%.
The African continent is likely to have an economic growth rebound to 3.8% in 2024.
“Fiscal deficits have improved, as faster than expected recovery from the pandemic helped shore up revenue. This has led to a stabilization of the average fiscal deficit at 4.9% in 2023, like 2022, but significantly less than the 6.9 percent average fiscal deficit of 2020,” Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB’s president was quoted by The Citizen.
He noted that the stabilization is a result of fiscal consolidation measures, particularly in countries with elevated risks of debt distress.
“We project that economic growth will regain moderate strength as long as the global economy remains resilient, disinflation continues, investment in infrastructure projects remains buoyant and there is sustained progress on debt restructuring and fiscal consolidation,” he added.
Dr. Adesina however highlighted inflation and geopolitical tensions as key risk factors to growth on the continent as they have the potential of disrupting trade and investment flow and pushing up commodity prices.
