Country Economic Memorandum
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Publication
Pathways to Sustainable Growth in Niger: A World Bank Group Country Economic Memorandum
(Washington, DC, 2022)This country economic memorandum aims to support Niger’s efforts to walk on a path conducive to a resilient and sustainable economic growth. It does so by attempting to answer the following five questions, each of which constitutes a separate chapter: (i) what were the salient structural characteristics of Niger’s growth performance in the last 20 years; (ii) what are the margins to accelerate growth in the medium to long term; (iii) how can technology be a vehicle for private sector development; (iv) how can the country’s large natural resource endowments be managed in a transparent way that benefits the whole population; and (v) how can the current disaster management framework be strengthened to increase resilience to natural shocks -
Publication
Nigeria Country Economic Memorandum : Charting a New Course: Synthesis Report
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022)Nigeria has vast potential, but development has stagnated over the past decade. The country is characterized by strong spatial inequalities and a large north-south divide. Creating better jobs is a necessary condition for accelerating poverty reduction and economic transformation. A combination of limited job creation, booming demographics, and unfulfilled aspirations is pushing young Nigerians to emigrate abroad in search of gainful employment. As a result, Nigeria is at a critical historical juncture, with a choice to make. To chart a new and inclusive growth path, Nigeria needs macroeconomic and institutional enablers and investment accelerators. To catalyze private investment and offer more opportunities to the youth, the priority is to restore and preserve macroeconomic stability. To do so, it will be critical to improve the availability of FX, and the predictability and credibility of the exchange rate system to ensure a level playing field across all firms and individuals. While there is no silver bullet to accelerate growth, Nigeria can become a rising growth star again if it implements a comprehensive set of bold reforms in a timely manner. To implement this set of prioritized reforms, the authorities need to walk the talk and shift their focus from the “what” to the “how”. -
Publication
Ghana Rising: Accelerating Economic Transformation and Creating Jobs
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11-10)Ghana has been a rising growth star and a beacon of hope in West Africa. Strong economic growth over the past two decades led to a near doubling of GDP per capita, lifting the country through the threshold for middle-income status in 2011. GDP per capita grew by an average of 3 percent per year over the past two decades, putting Ghana in the top ten fastest growing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A rising tide has tended to lift all boats. Poverty rates more than halved between 1998 and 2016, and the extreme poverty rate declined from 36.0 percent in 1991 to 8.2 percent in 2016. The net primary school enrollment rate rose from 62.5 percent in 2000 to 86.0 percent in 2019. This progress has motivated the government’s goal to lift the country to high-income status by 2057. The focus of this Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) is to review options for Ghana to create enough higher quality jobs through economic transformation. Economic transformation, or inclusive productivity growth, occurs as people and resources shift from lower to higher productivity activities. It raises household incomes and living standards, thereby lifting people out of poverty. It can be achieved through the movement of workers and other resources between firms and sectors, or through workers staying within existing firms that benefit from within-firm productivity growth by adopting better technologies and capabilities. -
Publication
Côte d’Ivoire - Country Economic Memorandum: Sustaining the Growth Acceleration
(Washington, DC, 2021-04)The Ivorian economy needs to sustain its growth momentum. During the last decade, Côte d’Ivoire’s growth performance has been impressive. To achieve its ambitious goal of reaching emerging market status within one or two generations, however, it needs to maintain the strong growth for many years to come. Fewer than 15 countries have managed to sustain high growth for over 25 years in the postwar period, and their experience has shown that increasing productivity is at the heart of it. To follow in their footsteps, Ivorian growth also needs to be more inclusive and reduce structural imbalances, including the gap between the economic capital, Abidjan, and the rest of the country. This report addresses this question.