According to the IMF, faster GDP growth in Angola and Ethiopia will see Kenya relegated to the fifth spot in sub-Saharan Africa’s economic rankings. Nigeria is projected to remain the largest economy on the continent, while Angola’s return to growth, linked to higher oil prices, saw the country overtake Kenya last year, ending years of recession.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently projected that the economies of Ethiopia and Angola are set to overtake Kenya in terms of size, potentially weakening Kenya’s ability to attract investors with its growing consumer market.
The IMF expects the economies of Ethiopia and Angola to expand by 13.5 per cent and 8.6 per cent, respectively, on dollar terms this year. However, Kenya is projected to record a slower growth of 2.4 per cent in the review period as the country grapples with the aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, drought, election jitters, and disruption of global supply chains by the Russia-Ukraine war.
