Growth recovery remains elusive in Sub-Saharan Africa and risks for another lost decade are real 

• Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to slow to 2.5 percent in 2023, from 3.6 percent in 2022. It is projected to increase to 3.7 percent in 2024 and 4.1 percent in 2025. However, in per capita terms, growth in the region has not increased since 2015. In fact, the region is projected to contract at an annual average rate per capita of 0.1 percent over 2015–25, thus marking a lost decade of growth in the aftermath of the 2014–15 plunge in commodity prices. Real gross domestic product (GDP) of the Eastern and Southern Africa subregion is set to grow at 1.9 percent in 2023 (down from 3.5 percent in 2022), while the Western and Central Africa subregion is expected to grow at 3.3 percent this year (compared to 3.8 percent in 2022).
• The continued slump of the region’s large economies is dragging down Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic performance. South Africa’s GDP is expected to grow at 0.5 percent in 2023 as energy and transportation bottlenecks continue. Nigeria and Angola are projected to grow at 2.9 and 1.3 percent, respectively, due to lower international prices and currency pressures affecting oil and non-oil activity. In Sudan, economic activity is expected to contract by 12 percent because of the internal conflict halting production and destroying human capital and state capacity. Excluding Sudan, the region is expected to grow at 3.1 percent in 2023.