WAEMU growth forecasts by the World Bank

Like the world economy and sub-Saharan Africa, the WAEMU will record a rebound of its growth, which should reach 4.2% in 2021 after a slowdown of 0.3% in 2020 according to the latest report released by the World Bank on January 7th. And, again this year, the region is expected to be one of the key pool of economic dynamics in a sub-Saharan Africa region where GDP is expected to grow by only 2.7%.

 

Cote d'Ivoire will achieve the best performance at WAEMU level with a growth of 5.5%, but also one of the continent's very first behind countries like Botswana and Rwanda where the progression is expected to 5.7%.

 

Niger and Benin are the two other WAEMU champions with growth of 5% or more.

 

More broadly, the region's economies are unlikely to achieve their pre-Covid-19 (2020) momentum, and they are likely to do so even in 2022, with the exception of Niger, where the World Bank expects double-digit growth of 11.8%.

 

For the World Bank, the projected growth momentum in sub-Saharan Africa this year remains weak and is not sufficient to impact poverty in the region.