The World Bank Group has projected 4.3% growth for Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy this year, representing 0.3 percentage points above its April 2026 forecast and higher than the 4.1%growth recorded by the economy in 2025.
A statement issued on Tuesday by the Bretton Woods development finance institution on its latest biannual economic report for the region titled ‘Africa Economic Update’ indicated that the SSA’s economy remained resilient despite geopolitical tensions, climate shocks, declining development assistance, and fiscal pressures.
The bank stated that the economy’s outlook remained supported by improved macroeconomic resilience, stronger domestic demand, and investments linked to the global energy transition and digital technologies.
It, however, noted that the conflict in the Middle East, trade policy uncertainty, tighter financial conditions, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and insecurity continued to affect economic activity across several countries.
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This is even as the bank reported that growth also remained insufficient to substantially reduce extreme poverty or create enough jobs for the region’s rapidly growing labor force.
Commenting on the report’s findings, World Bank Chief Economist for the Africa Region, Andrew Dabalen, said: “Despite a challenging global environment, economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience, with growth forecasts upgraded for nearly three-quarters of countries in the region, including Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zambia. These gains reflect years of reforms and improved economic management.
“The next challenge is turning growth into more jobs and better opportunities. By investing in the foundations of an AI-ready economy, African countries can unlock productivity gains, spur innovation, and accelerate the structural transformation needed to raise living standards and reduce poverty”, the banker added.
The report projected that median inflation rate in Sub-Saharan Africa would rise from 3.7% in 2025 to 5.5% in 2026, as higher global fuel, fertilizer, and food prices reverse some recent gains.
Noting that public debt has broadly stabilized at around 57% of GDP, the World Bank Group reported that high debt-service costs continued to limit spending on health, education, and infrastructure.
The bank further clarified: “With development assistance declining, countries face growing pressure to mobilize domestic resource mobilization, deepen local capital markets, and secure more sustainable financing.
“Risks remain tilted to the downside. Further geopolitical tensions could trigger additional increases in commodity prices, intensify inflation, and weaken external and fiscal balances. Climate-related shocks, including the effects of a potential El Niño event, could disrupt agricultural production and worsen food insecurity, while tighter financing conditions would further constrain fiscal space”, it added.
The bank’s latest titled ‘Africa Economic Update’ special focus examines how artificial intelligence can raise productivity, improve services, and create jobs.
The report’s findings showed that most countries were still at an early stage of AI adoption, with activity concentrated in a small number of economies, notably Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
The World Bank reported that the region’s greatest opportunity remained in affordable, locally adapted small AI applications, implying low bandwidth tools for education, agriculture, health, finance, logistics, and public administration, rather than frontier AI systems.
It maintained that realizing these benefits wouldl require investments in reliable electricity, affordable connectivity, digital skills, quality data, compute infrastructure, and effective governance.
The bank projected that strong institutions, technical capacity, implementation, and regional cooperation, including through the African Union’s Continental AI Strategy and the African Continental Free Trade Area, could help scale AI-enabled solutions and support more and better jobs in the continent.
