A new report by the McKinsey economic consultancy has shown that Africa’s biggest economies, including South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria, are experiencing the slowest growth on the continent.
“The growth in the past was driven by resources. We need to pivot now to productivity growth,” said Acha Leke, a senior partner with McKinsey.
The report showed that the performance of these economies had slowed the overall growth on the continent.
“If you look at growth over 10 years, it has grown at 3.3% which isn’t good when you look at population growth. But there is huge variation within Africa.”
The report added that the continent’s consistently growing economies have been driven by East Africa, Rwanda in particular. More recently, some countries in West Africa, such as Ivory Coast, have experienced a surge in growth.
As a result, Mr Leke said that 50% of Africans lived in countries that had grown above the average.
He said that future growth will hinge on strengthening intra-regional trade, helping Africa’s businesses increase in scale and skilling up the future workforce.