Challenges and prospects for building resilience to shocks

African economies have in the last two decades been through rough patches due to multiple and recurring global shocks affecting key macroeconomic indicators, with fragile recoveries in many cases. The global financial and economic crisis of 2008/09, the collapse of commodity prices in 2014/16, the Covid-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 and the war in Ukraine (2022–present) have led to various patterns of recovery across African economies, with some crecovering faster and more robustly than others. In the case of Covid-19 pandemic, African economies recovered from a recession of around –1.8% in 2020 to an estimated GDP growth rate of 4.6% in 2021 and 3.6% in 2022. The same recovery trend is expected from the war in Ukraine. But the frequency and intensity of multiple shocks could erode economic fundamentals and cause long-term damage that could take years to mend. The war in Ukraine, on the heels of Covid-19, precipitated inflationary pressures, increased debt-service burdens, further disrupted global value chains and elevated the risk of another recession in many African countries.

Sustainable Development Goals:

No Poverty

Reduced Inequalities

Climate Action