World Bank sees brighter Africa in 2015

LONDON

Economic growth in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is set to be considerably higher than most developing countries in Africa in 2015 and next year, a new report says.

The World Bank notes that development in the three countries stood at 5.4 per cent, 7.0 per cent and 6.8 per cent last year and will increase to six per cent in Kenya this year, and 6.6 per cent in 2016 respectively.

Tanzania’s growth will also rise slightly to 7.2 per cent this year but will fall to 6.8 per cent in 2016. Uganda’s growth will remain steady at 6.6 per cent in 2015 and 6.9 per cent the following year.

The rates are higher than those in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole which stood at 4.5 per cent last year rising to 4.6 per cent this.

This, the report says reflects a slowdown in several of the region’s large economies, notably South Africa.

Across the region, growth will surpass five per cent in 2017 supported by infrastructure investment, increased agriculture production, and buoyant services.

The global lender said the outlook “is subject to significant downside risks arising from a renewed spread of the Ebola epidemic, violent insurgencies, lower commodity prices, and volatile global financial conditions.”

In the Global Economic Prospects report, the bank said policy priorities include a need for budget restraint for some countries in the region — in which Kenya is singled out — and “a shift of spending to increasingly productive ends, as infrastructure constraints are acute.”

World-wide, after growing by an estimated 2.6 per cent in 2014, the global economy is projected to expand by 3 per cent this year, 3.3 per cent in 2016 and 3.2 per cent in 2017.