Economy

 With investor confidence growing, Egypt is looking forward to a sizeable boost to its economic performance in 2015.

Although room for fiscal manoeuvring has shrunk in Ghana in recent months, the government’s subsequent efforts to tighten spending and boost revenues is being welcomed by investors and lenders. 

Despite falling oil prices, the economy in Qatar maintained a steady rate of expansion throughout 2014, with targets of even more robust growth this year, fuelled by the non-hydrocarbon sector. 

A strong performance from traditional industries such as agriculture and increased spending in infrastructure and service sectors allowed Kenya to notch up solid growth in 2014, while a rebasing exercise in September has helped better capture the economy’s true size. 

Falling oil prices and increased instability in the north impacted Nigeria’s economic growth in 2014, though a rebasing of GDP means that whoever wins the forthcoming presidential elections in 2015 will take the helm of Africa’s largest economy. 

With earnings from oil accounting for more than 80% of government income, the halving of prices since June has eroded state revenue and could impact the extensive capital works programme in 2015, despite a government pledge to hike this year’s spending by 4.5% from its earlier plans.