INTO AFRICA September Edition: AFRICA in 2016: The Journey So far!

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Welcome to the September edition of INTO AFRICA, a publication with fresh insight into Africa’s emerging capital markets. This edition reviews Africa’s economies in the first half of 2016, hence its title: Africa in 2016: The Journey So far!  Please download by clicking: INTO AFRICA PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER  EDITION. 

After a prolonged period of strong economic growth, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is set to experience a second difficult year as the region is hit by multiple shocks, the IMF said in its latest Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa. The IMF report shows that growth fell to 3.5 percent in 2015, the lowest level in 15 years. Growth for 2016 is expected to slow further to 3 percent, well below the 6 percent average over the last decade, and barely above population growth.

The commodity price slump has hit many of the African economies hard. While oil prices have recovered somewhat compared to the beginning of the year, they are still more than 60 percent below 2013 peak levels—a shock of unprecedented magnitude. As a result, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Angola, as well as Ghana and Zambia, continue to face particularly difficult economic conditions.