Sub-Saharan Africa's growth recovery has resumed. Economic activity in the region is projected to grow by 3.0 percent in 2024, after bottoming out at 2.4 percent in 2023. Private consumption and investment contributions have supported the growth recovery in 2024. Growth is expected to accelerate further to 4 percent in 2025-26. However, the outlook remains uncertain despite falling global inflation and resilient global activity supporting growth in the region. Sub-Saharan Africa needs to further accelerate growth to reduce extreme poverty and enhance prosperity. GDP per capita is projected to grow by 0.5 percent in 2024 and 1.4 percent in 2025, but this expected increase would still leave the region's living standards below their level in 2014. Macroeconomic stability and human capital investments needed to achieve inclusive growth and transform the education system are vital for the region. Efforts should focus on equipping children with basic skills and providing the youth and workforce with higher-order skills. Increasing investment in education, efficient spending, and collaboration with local partners are needed to achieve universal education by 2030. Addressing these challenges will require a strong policy response to bridge the spending gap and meet education goals.
Authors
- Citation
- “ World Bank . 2024 . Africa's Pulse, No. 30, October 2024: Transforming Education for Inclusive Growth . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41999 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO . ”
- Collection(s)
- Africa's Pulse
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1596/41999
- ISBN
- 978-1-4648-2176-9
- Pages
- 108
- Published in
- United States of America
- Rights
- CC BY 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
- UNIT
- AFEVP - Office of the Chief Economist for the Africa Region
- URI
- https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41999
- region administrative
- Africa
- region geographical
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Files
Table of Contents
- TRANSFORMING EDUCATION FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH 1
- TRANSFORMING EDUCATION FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH 3
- Cooling inflation and well-anchored expectations will shore up the case for policy rate cuts 9
- Declining global inflation and firming global activity are supporting growth in the region but prospects remain uncertain 10
- An elevated debt burden is undercutting progress in fiscal consolidation 10
- Conflict and climate change are holding back the regions growth prospects 11
- Growing urgency to accelerate growth The roles of macroeconomic stability and education 12
- Delivering quality education for Africas future 12
- Getting off on the right footensuring that all children get a solid skills foundation 14
- Equipping youth and the workforce with skills relevant to an evolving global economy 14
- Investing smartly 15
- Section 1. Recent Developments and Outlook 17
- 1.1 GROWTH OUTLOOK IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 17
- Economic activity recovers in 2024 barely reaching pre-pandemic levels 17
- Although it is set to rebound in 2024 business activity indicators suggest that the recovery remains lukewarm 18
- After bottoming out in 2023 growth is set to recover in 2024 19
- The pace of the recovery is expected to differ across subregions in 2024 21
- There are some bright spots in Sub-Saharan Africa despite the tepid recovery in 2024 24
- 1.2 THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT 25
- The global economy is supported by firming activity in major economies 25
- Commodity prices have increased moderately in 2024 27
- 1.3 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAS MACROECONOMIC 30
- PERFORMANCE 30
- Headline inflation is converging to target for most countries in the region 30
- Food price inflation is gradually slowing down in most Sub-Saharan African countries 32
- African currencies appear to be stabilizing with some exceptions 33
- Heterogeneous monetary policy responses as the inflation outlook varies across countries 35
- Fiscal balances are improving at a sluggish pace 36
- Government debt remains high and riskier and some progress has been made in debt restructuring 39
- A stable current account balance for the region masks wide variation across countries 44
- 1.4 RISKS TO THE OUTLOOK 46
- Downside risks 46
- Upside risks 49
- EducationA Key Factor for Unlocking the Potential of the Demographic Dividend 56
- Education as a Strategy to Future-Proof Sub-Saharan Africas Economic and Social Development 57
- OBJECTIVE 1 BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION BY ENSURING THAT ALL CHILDREN ACQUIRE BASIC SKILLS 60
- Reform Area 1.1. Start Early to Ensure that Children Have the Best Start for Lifelong learning 62
- Reform Area 1.2. Keep a Relentless Focus on Early-Grade Literacy and Numeracy 63
- Reform area 1.3. Keeping children in school to completion 67
- OBJECTIVE 2 EQUIPPING YOUTH AND THE WORKFORCE WITH SKILLS RELEVANT TO THE EVOLVING LABOR MARKET 71
- Reform area 2.1. Expand equitable access to skills development 72
- Reform area 2.2. Ensure that skills development programs are relevant and responsive 76
- SMART INVESTMENT 79
- Spending Levels Are Inadequate to Meet the Education Challenge in Africa 79
- Finding the Funds to Move the Needle on Education Outcomes 80
- IMPROVING SECTOR SPENDING EFFICIENCY 83
- 3.1 MAINTAINING A SOUND MACROECONOMIC POLICY FRAMEWORK 85
- 3.2 INVESTING IN PEOPLE 87
- Appendix A Macroeconomic Tables 91
- Appendix B Country Classifications 93
- References 95