TAG: Africa
After sustained GDP expansion over the last decade, reaching into the double digits, the Ghanaian economy has slowed recently due to a drop in export revenues, a depreciating currency and a widened fiscal deficit. However, the new government’s aggressively pro-business agenda and the country’s fundamentals – a developed private sector, political stability, transparent regulatory frameworks and a wealth of natural resources remain attractive.
Over the past five years, Côte d’Ivoire has enjoyed one of the highest economic growth rates in the region. This is down to a combination of factors, including monetary policy stability, significant public investment in infrastructure and, more recently, a recovery in both the agriculture and mining sectors. While there are some headwinds that risk slowing this growth – including low financial intermediation rates, income inequality and a continued dependence on raw commodity exports – Côte d’Ivoire appears to have so far avoided the slowdown that has affected many other economies in the region.
While Egypt continues to face considerable economic challenges, the outlook is improving on the back of strong private sector activity and government reforms. New revenue enhancements have been put into place, while current spending is being curtailed and a long-awaited legal framework aimed at attracting new investment will soon be rolled out. Financial services, telecoms and industrial firms have benefitted from steady domestic demand, although there are plenty of obstacles to faster growth, including a troubled currency – the flotation of which, while seen as necessary, threatens to drive up inflation.