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Madagascar

Madagascar is endowed with a wealth of natural resources. These include semi-precious stones, graphite, chromite, coal, bauxite, rare earth elements, salt, quartz, tar sand and mica. The country supplies around 80% of the world’s vanilla. Other main agricultural products include coffee, sugarcane, palm oil, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava, beans, bananas and peanuts. The island nation also derives revenue from fishing, forestry and hydropower. Renowned for its biodiversity and its unique flora and fauna, Madagascar is often described the ‘Galapagos of the African continent’.

Ethiopia

The winds of change are sweeping through Ethiopia since Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in April. Ethiopia is sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest growing economy, with average growth of around 10% a year for over a decade. GDP was US$8.2bn in 2000, $80bn by 2017, and will reach US$129bn by 2023, according to the IMF. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook expects 8.5% GDP growth in 2019 – while the World Bank expects 8% – outstripping advanced economies and global growth, which is expected at 3.9%.

Eswatini

Eswatini is a landlocked country bordering South Africa and Mozambique, with a population of approximately 1.4 million. The country was renamed in 2018 by King Mswati III, who rules it as an absolute monarch. Eswatini has close economic ties to South Africa, which it depends on for about 85% of its imports and about 60% of exports. It is a member of the Common Monetary Area with Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa, and its currency, the lilangeni is pegged at the rand, which is also used as legal tender.

Burundi

The Burundi economy ranks 41st on the continent with a GDP of US$3bn and a population of 11 million, and is classified as a ‘fragile’ economy which has been ravaged by a protracted civil war. According to the African Development Bank, economic growth is constrained by its unstable macroeconomic framework and security concerns, among other factors. Burundi, which is one of the world’s poorest nations, has been embroiled in a civil war for over a decade.

Liberia

The effects of a long civil war, an Ebola crisis from 2014 to 2016 and the subsequent withdrawal of peacekeeping forces and aid continue to weigh heavily on the Liberian economy. Estimates of the country’s GDP, and its growth outlook, vary widely. African Development Bank figures indicate GDP growth was an estimated 3.2% in 2018, from 2.5% in 2017, driven largely by growth in mining and manufacturing.

Nigeria

Economic growth in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, remains slow and way off the overly-optimistic expectations of its 2017 economic recovery and growth plan. The country, which is negotiating World Bank funding in the region of US$2.5bn, the second tranche in as many years, remains highly dependent on agriculture and oil, which played into its languid GDP growth of 1.94% in the quarter to June, from 2.1% and 2.46% in the previous two quarters.

Mozambique

There are causes for optimism about Mozambique’s political and economic future due partly to a recent peace accord with opposition Renamo ahead of the country’s October election and partly to the announcement of several major projects following the discovery of huge deposits of natural gas. African Development Bank figures show Mozambique’s GDP growth was 3.5% in 2018, down sharply from the average of 7% from 2004 to 2015, mainly because of the steep decline in public and foreign investment.

Zambia

Zambia’s economy is holding steady despite the massive drop in agricultural output in 2018. But political and economic challenges weigh heavily on the country. World Bank figures estimated Zambia’s 2018 GDP growth at 3.5% while the African Development Bank estimated economic growth at 4.0% in 2018, compared with 4.1% in 2017. It said that agricultural output fell more than 35% in 2018 due to poor rainfall, although copper production and construction contributed positively to growth.