The global bank also identified high inflation and a sharp slowdown in investment growth as other reasons why African countries are experiencing sluggish growth.
The World Bank noted that in the face of muted growth prospects and rising debt levels, African governments must focus on macroeconomic stability, domestic revenue mobilization, debt reduction and productive investments to reduce extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in the medium and long term.
In its latest report, the World Bank had projected that economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa should decline from 3.6% in 2022 to 3.1% this year.
The report stated that “South Africa's economic activity is expected to weaken further in 2023 (0.5% annual growth) as the energy crisis deepens, while Nigeria's growth recovery for 2023 (2.8% ) is still fragile as oil production remains subdued.
It was estimated that the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the West and Central Africa sub-region would slow to 3.4 percent in 2023 from 3.7 percent in 2022, while those of East Africa and Austral would drop to three percent in 2023 (3.5 percent in 2022).
