INTO AFRICA February 2020 Edition – Lens on Africa’s Economy in 2020

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Wish you a prosperous year 2020 and welcome to the February 2020 edition of the INTO AFRICA, a publication written by the professionals, for professionals, investors, policymakers … Advancing and providing fresh insight into Africa’s emerging markets through renowned thought leadership and peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing. This edition provides insight and foresight into African economies from economists and analysts, hence the edition titled: Lens on Africa’s Economy in 2020.

Last year was a challenging one for the African continent. From an international perspective, geopolitical risks and a decrease in commodity prices weighed on African economic activity. On the domestic front, apart for country-specific dynamics hampering growth prospects, the biggest economies on the continent continued to struggle, weighing on neighbouring countries’ economic activity and subsequently overall African growth. Nonetheless, the outlook for the coming year is a bit more optimistic, largely driven by fading global uncertainties.  The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) projected the real GDP growth of African economies to pick up from 3.4% in 2019 to 3.9% in 2020 and 4.1% in 2021, but to remain below the region’s average growth rate of 5% in the past decade. Still, it noted that the region’s outlook is subject to domestic and external downside risks, including extreme weather events, socio-political risks amid upcoming elections in several countries, and a slowdown in global economic activity. Besides, the recent coronavirus outbreak in China, which has also spread to different parts of the globe, will hurt the Chinese economy in the short term and this could subsequently affect resource-rich African countries.

PIETER DU PREEZ (Senior Economist, NKC African Economics South Africa) opens the edition with a stimulating write-up titled “Africa: Emerging risks and new opportunities in 2019”, where he examines some of the risks and opportunities facing countries on the continent in the short to medium term. DANIEL RICHARDS (MENA Economist, Emirates NBD, United Arab Emirates) and TIAGO DIONISIO (Chief Economist, Eaglestone Advisory) discuss in “Algeria and Ethiopia: Macroeconomic Outlook” and “Angola: Challenging Economic Environment Continues”, respectively.  COURAGE KINGSLEY MARTEY (Senior Economic Analyst, Databank Group, Ghana) explores the Ghanaian economy in “Ghana: Macroeconomic fundamentals and Risk” and DAVID NGUGI GITAU (Investment Analyst, Cytonn Investments Kenya) reflects on Kenya in “Kenya: Macroeconomic fundamentals and Risks”

PLEASE CLICK TO DOWNLOAD – INTO AFRICA PUBLICATION: FEBRUARY 2020 EDITION.