World Bank Headquarters, Washington, D.C

The World Bank says a recovery is underway in Sub-Saharan Africa as Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the region is expected to strengthen to 3.2 per cent in 2018 following a sharp slowdown over the past two years.

This is according to the Bi-Annual Africa Pulse report of the bank which focuses on the economies of African countries, released on Wednesday in Washington DC.

According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, grew by 2.4 per cent in 2017 from 1.3 per cent in 2016, slightly below the pace previously projected.

According to the report, the rebound in the region is led by the region’s largest economies, that is Nigeria and South Africa.

“In the second quarter of 2017, Nigeria exited a five-quarter recession and South Africa emerged from two successive quarters of negative growth. Economic activity has also picked up in Angola.

“A recovery in the oil sector, partly due to a decline in militants’ attacks on oil pipelines, helped Nigeria pull out of five consecutive quarters of negative growth but the rebound was softer than expected.

“Growth in Nigeria is projected to pickup from 1 per cent in 2017 to 2.5 per cent in 2018 and 2.8 per cent in 2019.

The forecast for 2019 was revised up by 0.3 percentage, reflecting the expectations that oil production will remain robust and reforms in the foriegn exchange market will help boost growth in the non-oil sector,” the report showed.

The report also shows that International Bonds and equity flows in the region, especially to Nigeria, have increased and are helping to finance the current account deficits and cushion foreign reserves.

The report also commended the improved access to foreign exchange in Nigeria, thanks to the recent polices of the Central Bank of Nigeria, saying it had led to “pick up in equity and portfolio inflows”.

“In April 2017, the CBN introduced a new investor and exporter window, which had helped to improve businesses’ access to foreign exchange,” it said.

The report also showed that countries’ skills-building efforts must strive to make spending smarter to ensure greater efficiency and better outcomes.

According to the report, countries faced two hard choices in balancing their skills portfolios.

That is striking the right balance between overall productivity growth and inclusion and on the one hand, investing in the skills of today’s workforce and tomorrow’s workforce.

In a video conference to discuss the latest report, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa, Mr Albert Zeufack, said the fiscal space narrowed significantly for most countries in the region in recent years amid rising debt burdens.

“Most countries do not have significant wiggle room when it comes to having enough fiscal space to cope with economic volatility.

“It is imperative that countries adopt appropriate fiscal policies and structural measures now to strengthen economic resilience, boost productivity, increase investment, and promote economic diversification,” he said.

Also, the World Bank Lead Economist and lead author of the report, Mrs Punam Chuhan-Pole said that the outlook for the region remained challenging as economic growth remained very low.

“Moreover, the moderate pace of growth will only yield slow gains in per capita income that will not be enough to harness broad-based prosperity and accelerate poverty reduction,” she said.

Meanwhile the acting Country Director for World Bank Nigeria, Mr Khairy Al-Jamal reiterated the World Bank’s commitment to working with Nigeria to achieve a robust inclusive and sustainable growth.

Al-Jamal said that the bank was committed to support the Federal Government to improve its water, roads, education and health infrastructure as well as other services to poor and vulnerable people.

He also said that the World Bank was assisting Nigeria in the aspect of domestic resource mobilisation, through the expansion of its revenue base and improve efficiency in tax collection. (NAN)