Foreword
The annual flagship report Africa’s Development Dynamics provides the latest information on economic policies on the African continent and in its five regions. It proposes a new narrative assessing Africa’s economic, social and institutional performance in light of the targets set by the African Union’s Agenda 2063. This 2023 edition explores how Africa can attract investments that offer the best balance between economic, social and environmental objectives.
Africa’s Development Dynamics is the product of a collaborative approach. It results from a strong partnership between the African Union Commission’s Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals and the OECD Development Centre, bringing together a team of academic researchers, economists, statisticians, and experts from Africa and other regions.
The first two chapters explore the current investment landscape in Africa and recommend priority actions, offering lessons from across the continent and beyond. The next five chapters focus respectively on the five regions as defined by the Abuja Treaty: Southern, Central, East, North and West Africa. These chapters tailor policy recommendations to strategic areas in each region, covering natural ecosystems, renewable energy, climate finance and agri-food value chains.
This edition draws on a wide range of data sources to analyse public, private, domestic and foreign sources of investments. These sources are complemented by primary data collected through an AUC/OECD online survey on investment risks, barriers and priorities linked to cross-border investments in African countries. The survey was administered from June to October 2022 to the networks of African business councils and the EU-Africa Business Forum, gathering responses from 58 African and non-African business representatives. Eight in-depth interviews with multinational investors that are members of the OECD Emerging Markets Network (EMnet) were also conducted to supplement the survey results.
The cut-off date for data used in the report was 18 February 2023, except for gross domestic product figures taken from the IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2023.
A statistical annex is available online, and its data are updated throughout the year. It contains the latest economic, social and institutional indicators across African countries for which data are comparable. The list of summary tables appears in the last pages of the report. The data are presented by country, region, Regional Economic Communities and other relevant groups of African countries (the categories include resource endowment, levels of income and socio-economic development, geographic access, and language groups). They compare Africa with other world regions and country groups. Additionally, the database offers statistical profiles for different African countries and country groups, comparing key thematic indicators related to investment. This database aims to inform decision makers, advisors, business analysts, private investors, journalists, non-governmental organisations and citizens around the globe who are interested in the development trajectories of African countries.
The full report is published in English, French and Portuguese. An electronic version is also available on line, together with accompanying figures and tables. These, along with the statistical annex, appear on the websites of both the African Union Commission (www.au.int/en/afdd2023) and the OECD Development Centre (https://oe.cd/AFDD-2023).