While Kenya remains one of Africa’s hubs for business and communication, its annual GDP growth has not yet caught up with the country’s public debt. Expansions in tourism, telecommunications, transportation, and more have contributed to improving Kenya’s economy, but continued high foreign investment and development aid, most prominently from China, keeps the public debt at a high percentage of the nation’s GDP.
Since the end of Sierra Leone’s civil war in 2002, the country’s economy has begun to recover, but hasn’t quite reached the growth necessary to start tackling its debt. The country is notoriously hampered by an over dependence on mineral exploitation, and the resulting controversies surrounding blood diamonds. Agricultural industries and other sustainable investments haven’t yet become a government priority.
Political instability in Côte d’Ivoire has made its economic growth shaky and unreliable, and even as its agricultural industry has grown, accompanying high population growth has prevented the country from truly improving its GDP. The majority of the population is dependent on smallholder cash crop production, mainly cocoa and coffee.
Though Mauritius compares favorably with other sub-Saharan African countries when it comes to annual economic growth and equitable income distribution, its relatively small size forces it to remain dependent on international lending. While it remains an agriculturally based economy, with sugarcane as its main crop, the Mauritian government has taken steps to increase the nation’s telecommunications and business-oriented industries.
Though Burundi has the potential for self-sufficiency when it comes to food production, its ongoing civil war and overpopulation have created a subsistence economy, and the country is a net food importer largely dependent on international assistance. Its manufacturing sector is underdeveloped and most workers are in the agricultural sector, which has been negatively impacted by soil erosion and poor land management.
The small archipelagic nation of Cape Verde sees only a smidgeon of rain each year, making it difficult for the islands to produce enough agriculture to sustain the economy. In fact, most of the nation’s GDP comes from the service industries. Though Cape Verde has been reclassified as a country of average development, it still has to import 75 percent of its food. This creates a high trade deficit, and maintains the need for high levels of foreign aid.
Though Egypt has one of the more successful economies in Africa, its ongoing civil and political unrest have disrupted production, and significantly decreased the country’s foreign exchange reserves. In 2013, Standard & Poor’s lowered Egypt’s credit rating to a CCC+ over concerns about the country’s ability to meet financial targets, or maintain peace. Egypt has been wracked by revolution and unrest since President Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.
With a boon in oil production and high oil prices, Sudan experienced an economic upswing, followed by an influx of foreign investment. However, the ongoing unrest between Sudan and South Sudan have made significant economic achievement difficult. The lack of basic infrastructure in many large areas contributes to much of the country’s population living below the poverty line and helps stall the move away from a subsistence economy.
Eritrea was ranked one of the fastest growing economies in 2011 when its GDP grew by 8.7 percent in one year, but its reliance on migrant labor, high rates of inflation and overspending on defense made it difficult to stop racking up foreign debt. Ongoing drought conditions threaten the country’s agricultural sector. Eritrea’s government lacks transparency and does not publish its budget, making it difficult to accurately assess its financial conditions. Continued high military expenditures will make it difficult for the country to buck its unsustainably high debt.
Corruption, mismanagement, hyperinflation — all have contributed to Zimbabwe’s enormous economic struggles in recent years. Compounded with a decrease in the country’s wildlife due to poaching and deforestation, and the resulting loss of tourism, Zimbabwe has been forced to borrow enormously from the international community. Conditions have been further worsened by controversial social policies including targeted land redistribution measures that have created even more difficulties for an already struggling economy.
