Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, October 2021
Regional Economic Outlook, October 2021
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- Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, October 2021
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Bibliographic details
- Published: October 21, 2021
Overview and central message
- The world remains in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic and a seemingly accelerating pace of climate change, underscoring the need for increased global cooperation and dialogue.
- Solutions must involve all countries and all regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, described in the source as having the world’s least vaccinated population, most promising renewable energy potential, and critical ecosystems.
- Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is set to expand by 3.7 percent in 2021 and 3.8 percent in 2022; this follows the sharp contraction in 2020 and represents the slowest recovery relative to other regions.
- The region is at a critical juncture to implement bold transformative reforms to capitalize on its potential.
Major findings and risks
- Divergences in the economic outlook exist at three levels:
- between sub-Saharan Africa and other regions,
- within sub-Saharan Africa,
- and within countries.
- Drivers of these divergences include the region’s slower vaccine rollout, more limited fiscal space, and regional disparities in resilience.
- The outlook remains extremely uncertain, with risks tilted to the downside.
- Specific vulnerabilities highlighted:
- dependence of the recovery on the path of the global pandemic and the regional vaccination effort,
- exposure to food price inflation,
- vulnerability to disruptions in global activity and financial markets.
Policy implications and priorities
- Increased global cooperation and dialogue are necessary to address both the pandemic and climate change.
- Sub-Saharan Africa needs to pursue bold transformative reforms to capitalize on its renewable energy potential and other long-term strengths.
- Addressing vaccination shortfalls and managing fiscal constraints are central to improving near-term recovery prospects.
Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, October 2021
Content in this bundle
- At A Glance. Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook, October 2021.
- Statistical Appendix
- Regional Economic Outlook: Sub‑Saharan Africa — October 2021 (selected excerpts)