CAPE TOWN: African economies will grow 4.5 percent this year and 5 percent in 2016 due to rising demand for exports, the highest levels since the global economic crisis took hold in 2007, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said.
Financial inflows will increase nearly 7 percent to $193 billion, supported by higher foreign direct investment and a spike in portfolio investments, the bank said in its annual African Economic Outlook report.
The AfDB estimates African economies to have grown by 3.9 percent in 2014. In the years prior to the economic crisis, African economic growth averaged between 5-7 percent. Improving economic prospects worldwide will increase demand for the continent’s exports, the report released at the opening of the bank’s annual meetings in Abidjan, Ivory Coast said. But the rebound is expected to be uneven.
