Africa's economic growth to slightly recover in 2017, 2018

Africa's economic growth is expected to recover in 2017 to 3.4 percent and to 4.3 percent in 2018 from the 2.2 percent registered the previous year, a new outlook by the African Development Bank (ADB) has said.

According to the African Economic Outlook 2017 released by the Bank on Monday, the projected growth is on account of anticipated recovery of commodity prices which will strengthen the world economy and also domestic macroeconomic reforms being entrenched.

In 2016, Africa's economic growth slowed down to 2.2 percent from 3.4 percent in 2015 due to low commodity prices, weak global recovery and adverse weather conditions, which impacted on agriculture production in some regions.

"Although economic headwinds experienced in the last two years appear to have altered the 'Africa rising' narrative', we firmly believe the continent remains resilient, with non-resource dependent economies sustaining higher growth for much longer spell," said Abebe Shimeles, Acting Director, Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research Department, at the ADB.

"With dynamic private sectors, entrepreneurial spirit and vast resources, Africa has the potential to grow even faster and more inclusively," he added.

The Bank said Africa's growth increasingly relies on domestic sources, as shown by dynamic private and government consumption that combined, accounted for 60 percent of growth in 2016.

The growth also coincides with progress in human development. Eighteen African countries had achieved medium to high levels of human development by 2015.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the continent is projected to reach 57 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 slightly up from the 56.5 billion dollars registered in 2016. The increase is mainly on account of the continent's emerging markets and fast urbanization.

The FDI has diversified away from the natural resources sector to construction, financial services, manufacturing, transport, electricity, and information and communication technology. The Bank noted that progress still remains uneven.

"Despite a decade of progress, 54 percent of the population in 46 African countries are still trapped in poverty across multiple dimensions - health, education and living standards," the Bank said.