Positive growth outlook masks key country differences

We expect sub-Saharan Africa to remain one of the world’s better performing regions over the next few years. But this masks some key differences between countries, and indeed some economies will struggle. The worst performer is likely to be South Africa, which is one of the most vulnerable countries in the region to weaker growth in China, and is suffering from its own structural problems too. Growth in Zambia is also likely to be much weaker than it has been in recent years. But several countries in East Africa should post strong growth due to rising investment in energy sectors. And Angola and Nigeria should record growth rates of 7% or so over the next couple of years.