Figure of the week: Gap in universal mobile phone and internet access in Africa

This week, the World Bank released the latest issue of Africa's Pulse-a biannual publication highlighting key macroeconomic trends in sub-Saharan Africa. The report highlights the region's continued weak recovery from the commodity price shock in 2014, with 2018 GDP growth projected at 2.3 percent, lower than the rate of population growth. The current estimate for growth in 2018 is 0.4 percentage points lower than the October 2018 estimate as the region's major economies grew slower than expected. The report also lowered growth projections for 2019 and 2020 to 2.8 and 3.3 percent, from 3.3 and 3.6 percent, respectively.