INTO AFRICA September 2017 Edition: Taking Stock towards Africa’s Recovery

Welcome to the September 2017 edition of INTO AFRICA, a publication with fresh insight into Africa’s emerging capital markets. This edition reviews Africa’s economies in the first half of 2017 and is aptly timed as it coincides with a recovery in fortunes for the African largest economies – South Africa and Nigeria – hence its title: Taking Stock towards Africa’s Recovery.

The year 2016 was a difficult year for many countries, with the sub-Saharan Africa region growth dipping to 1.4 percent—the lowest level of growth in more than two decades- the IMF reported in its May 217 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the report stated that a modest recovery in growth of about 2.6 percent is expected in 2017, but this falls short of past trends and is too low to put sub-Saharan Africa back on a path of rising living standards.

In the second quarter (Q2) of 2017, a surge in agriculture has helped lift Africa’s biggest economies out of their slumps, but the recovery may be weak. Gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria, advanced for the first time in six quarters in the three months ended June from a year earlier, growing 0.55 percent. In South Africa, GDP expanded 2.5 percent in Q2 from the previous quarter, ending the second recession in almost a decade.

While Africa remains a region with tremendous growth potential, the deterioration in the overall outlook partly reflects insufficient policy adjustment as well as political uncertainties in major economies. In that context, and to reap this potential, strong and sound domestic policy measures are needed to restart the growth engine.

Please download by clicking: INTO AFRICA PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 2017 EDITION.