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The World Bank has raised its 2026 economic growth forecast for Sub-Saharan Africa by 0.3 percentage points to 4.3%, reflecting stronger-than-expected performance across several economies in the region.
The lender disclosed the revised projection in the October 2026 edition of its Africa Economic Update, its biannual economic report assessing recent developments and the outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Bank said growth forecasts have now been upgraded for nearly three-quarters of Sub-Saharan African countries, including Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia.
Reforms lift Africa growth outlook
The upward review comes despite persistent pressures from geopolitical tensions, climate shocks, declining development assistance and fiscal constraints across several economies in the region.
The World Bank said the region has nevertheless remained resilient, supported by improved macroeconomic management, stronger domestic demand and investment linked to energy transition and digital technologies.
- “Growth in the region is projected to rise from 4.1% in 2025 to 4.3% in 2026, 0.3 percentage points above the April 2026 forecast,” the World Bank said.
Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for the Africa Region, said the improved outlook reflected reforms and stronger economic management across several countries, although translating the expansion into jobs and higher living standards remains a major challenge.
- “These gains reflect years of reforms and improved economic management. The next challenge is turning growth into more jobs and better opportunities,” Dabalen said.
Despite the upgrade, the World Bank warned that the current pace of growth remains inadequate to substantially reduce extreme poverty or generate sufficient employment for the region’s rapidly expanding labour force.
Growth accelerates across 21 economies
In April, the World Bank lowered its 2026 growth forecast for Sub-Saharan Africa by 0.3 percentage points to 4.1%, citing the economic fallout from the Iran war as a major drag on the region’s recovery.
However, the latest assessment shows growth accelerating in 21 of the 47 Sub-Saharan African economies covered by the World Bank, with the median increase estimated at 0.8 percentage point compared with 2025.
The improvement marks a stronger outlook for several economies that recorded weak growth or contractions in the previous year.
- Equatorial Guinea is projected to improve from a 5.8% contraction in 2025 to a 1.2% contraction in 2026, an improvement of about 4.6 percentage points.
- Botswana is expected to rebound from a 0.7% contraction in 2025 to 3.4% growth in 2026, while Zambia is projected to accelerate from 3.8% to 5.6%.
- Angola’s economy is forecast to expand by 4.5%, compared with 3.1% in 2025, while the Republic of Congo is projected to grow by 4.4%, up from 3.1%.
The World Bank noted that about half of the countries in the region have already exceeded their average annual growth rates recorded between 2000 and 2019.
The stronger forecasts underline the World Bank’s assessment that economic momentum has improved across a significant share of Sub-Saharan Africa.
World Bank upgrades Nigeria outlook
Nigeria is among the economies for which the World Bank has upgraded its growth outlook.
- Nairametrics earlier reported that the World Bank raised Nigeria’s 2026 economic growth forecast to 4.3% from 4.0% in 2025, with growth projected to reach 4.4% in both 2027 and 2028.
- The revised outlook follows stronger recent economic performance, with Nigeria recording faster real GDP growth in the second quarter of 2026.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 4.43% year-on-year in Q2 2026, compared with 4.23% in the corresponding quarter of 2025.
- The 4.43% expansion represented a 0.20 percentage-point improvement from the growth recorded in the same period of the previous year.
The latest World Bank projection therefore places Nigeria among the Sub-Saharan African economies expected to record stronger growth as the region’s economic outlook improves.
