Country Reports

As the single most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria recently overtook South Africa as the largest economy on the continent. Natural resources, oil and gas in particular, comprise the country’s single largest revenue-earner but the 170m person economy also has seen significant activity in recent years into the industrial, financial, telecoms and – as of 2013 – power sectors.

Considerable oil and gas revenues have provided the Algerian government with sufficient funds to embark on generous public spending programmes in nearly all sectors, leading to improvements in many of the country’s headline indicators. 

The wealth of the Nile River and its fertile banks and delta, together with Egypt’s location at the confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe, have made the country a valuable prize for centuries, as well as a centre of trade and ideas. 

Bolstered by burgeoning cement and ceramics industries that draw on the natural resources of the Hajar Mountains, Ras Al Khaimah has one of the GCC’s more diversified economies. Continued investment in infrastructure is enabling further economic growth and encouraging foreign investment. 

Long viewed as a bastion of stability in the Central African region, thanks in part to large hydrocarbon revenues that have helped it maintain one of the highest levels of per capita income in the region, Gabon has been able to leverage its diplomatic clout throughout sub-Saharan Africa. 

The Republic of Ghana has experienced two peaceful handovers of power in the two decades since it has returned to civilian, multiparty democracy and has gained a deserved reputation as a bastion of stability. However, in recent years, it has been the country’s economic performance in the headlines.