Africa’s recovery from the impact of the 2009 global economic crisis and the 2011 North African revolts has led experts to predict the continent’s economy will grow by 4.5 per cent in 2012

According to a report made public at the beginning of the annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tanzania, Africa has benefitted from the continued growth of emerging economies, such as China and India, who have continued to invest and trade with countries across the continent.

Drawn up by the AfDB, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the UN Development Agency (UNDP), the report said that Africa’s economy should see a rebound in 2012, after popular uprisings and political unrest brought overall economic growth down to 3.4 per cent in 2011.

“The continent is recovering from the global crisis of 2009 and this should be sustained even though a new global slowdown is constraining Africa’s growth,” the report stated.

“With the gradual recovery of North African economies, Africa’s average growth is expected to rebound to 4.5 per cent in 2012 and to 4.8 per cent in 2013.”

The report warned, however, that with an annual population growth rate of 2.2 per cent across sub-Saharan Africa, many countries were seeing their economic gains outpaced.

“While keeping an eye on new economic storm clouds in Europe, Africa must keep its focus on reforms that encourage growth and ease social tensions that set off the Arab revolutions and caused North Africa’s GDP growth to decline by 3.6 percentage points to near stagnation in 2011,” the report added.