Eastern Africa is the continent's fastest-growing region in 2024 with a GDP growth rate of 5.39%, but it also faces the highest inflation at 17.76%.
Southern Africa has the lowest inflation (3.48%) but also the highest unemployment by far, at 28.64%.
Western Africa combines growth (3.57%) with low unemployment (4.53%), positioning it as a relatively stable economic zone.
Central Africa and Northern Africa both lag in GDP growth, at 1.40% and 2.90% respectively, with Central Africa also experiencing moderate inflation and interest rates.
Interest rates are highest in Western (10.84%) and Eastern Africa (10.12%), reflecting tighter monetary policies likely aimed at controlling inflation.
Northern Africa’s 11.15% unemployment rate suggests underlying labour market issues despite moderate inflation and interest rates.
Southern Africa's low interest rate (6.29%) hasn't translated into job creation, indicating that monetary easing alone isn't resolving unemployment challenges.
Ghana led the continent in gold production in 2023, producing 135.11 tonnes, 13.5% of Africa’s total.
Four countries (Ghana, Mali, South Africa, and Burkina Faso) each produced over 95 tonnes, together accounting for 443 tonnes or 44.1% of the continent’s output.
West African countries dominated the rankings, with eight nations from the region among the top 15 producers.
The West African countries in the top 15 combined contributed 525.55 tonnes, more than half (52.3%) of Africa's total gold production.
South Africa ranked third in Africa with 104.29 tonnes.
Burkina Faso ranked fourth while contributing almost 10% of Africa’s gold production.
The Tunisian dinar stood at TND 2.15 per US$ in 2016 and has since depreciated to TND 3.11 per US$ in 2024.
Between 2016 and 2019, the dinar saw a strong depreciation.
2020 marked a turning point with a 4.16% appreciation, the first notable currency strengthening in the period observed.
From 2022 onward, the exchange rate has stabilised closely around TND 3.10 to TND 3.11 per US$, with minimal yearly changes of 0.08% and 0.04%.
The largest year-on-year depreciation occurred in 2017 with a 12.63% change.
Despite the earlier years of high volatility, Tunisia’s currency performance in the last three years suggests better monetary management and external stability.
Egypt dominated African cotton production for decades, from the 1960s to the early 2000s, standing far ahead of other African countries in both volume and quality.
The early 2000s marked a major turning point, as West African countries — especially Burkina Faso and Mali — began to overtake Egypt in total production.
Burkina Faso emerged as the new cotton leader between 2005 and 2015, topping production in key years like 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012–2015, and later reclaiming the top spot in 2020 and 2022.
Mali built its cotton strength after 2015, becoming Africa’s number one producer multiple times, peaking at over 334,000 tonnes in 2019.
Benin and Côte d’Ivoire quietly closed the gap throughout the 2010s, consistently ranking in the top three, even though they didn’t dominate the number one spot.
