According to the World Bank’s September Africa Pulse report, economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to slow further from 3.6 percent in 2022 to 2.5 percent in 2023, a 0.6 percentage point decrease from the April 2023 prediction.
According to the research, 28 of the 48 Sub-Saharan African countries’ growth predictions for 2023 have been revised downward. Notably, Sudan’s growth forecast has been reduced by 12.5 percentage points due to the damage done to the country’s industrial basis, as well as its educational and medical facilities, by the armed conflict that began in April 2023.
Having said that, the predicted trend begs the question of what factors account for the World Bank’s judgment. Monetary and fiscal policy tightening in response to high inflation and fiscal unsustainability, a high risk of debt distress, structural constraints such as energy and transportation bottlenecks, and rising conflict and violence manifested in a series of events such as coups, protests, and heightened social unrest across Sub-Saharan African countries have all contributed to the downward trend.
According to recent study on global growth phases, Sub-Saharan Africa has consistently lower rates of poverty that are sensitive to economic expansion than other regions.
This lower elasticity appears to be due to a weaker relationship between GDP and household consumption growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, implying that African countries must experience higher per capita growth to match improvements in average living standards experienced by households in other regions.
Regardless, there are countries on the continent with very significant development in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023. The top ten are listed below.
| Rank | Country | Growth % |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Rwanda | 5%-6% |
| 2. | Democratic Republic of Congo | 5%-6% |
| 3. | Côte d’Ivoire | 5%-6% |
| 4. | Mozambique | 5%-6% |
| 5 | Ethiopia | 4%-6% |
| 6. | Benin | 4%-6% |
| 7. | Cabo Verde | 4%-6% |
| 8. | Uganda | 3%-5.5% |
| 9. | Togo | 3%-5% |
| 10. | Tanzania | 3%-5% |