Falling commodity prices, Chinese slowdown weigh on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA’s) economy is likely to grow by 2.6% this year, says international trade credit insurer Coface.
It points out that commodity prices had plummeted 45% in two years, while the oil price had fallen almost 60% to around $50/bl, placing strain on countries that are heavily reliant on the export of commodities and oil.
Further exacerbating the situation was the slowdown experienced in China’s economy since 2010, with many countries exporting considerable quantities of commodities to China.
In addition, domestic factors, such as electricity constraints in South Africa, the impact of El Niño and governance problems in SSA, and significant security tensions in Nigeria, further impacted on economic growth in the region.
Coface stated on Monday that the external risks had increased considerably, with some countries’ current account balances having deteriorated amid falling revenues from commodity exports and negative shocks in trade had been particularly pronounced.
This was accompanied by strong downward pressure on exchange rates against the dollar, which caused a marked increase in inflationary pressures.
Angola, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia have had to cope with a massive depreciation of their exchange rates against the dollar, which was unlikely to be corrected this year.
However, currencies and commodity prices had generally stabilised since the start of 2016, stated Coface.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Yale Lifting Solutions is a leading supplier of lifting and material handling equipment in Southern Africa. Yale offers a wide range of quality...
VISIT SHOWROOM
For over 60 years, VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight and pressure. As the inventor of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
