Economic transformation is the key to building resilient economies in Africa. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic, unlike other global shocks that have impacted African countries recently, triggered a sudden, deep decline in activity, with severe impacts that will take a long time to counter.
To better withstand the negative impacts of such shocks—and to quickly and strongly recover from them—African countries must take steps to prioritize and implement policies that support transformation: to further diversify their economies; be more competitive in the export markets; achieve higher levels of productivity, especially labor; and upgrade technology to improve the production and export of high-value-added goods and services.
And countries must ensure this is done in a way that improves human economic well-being, such as through better jobs and opportunities, greater female participation in the paid formal workforce, and reduced income inequalities. The evidence shows that, despite notable gains in these areas, overall progress has been very slow—and since 2008 it has been dramatically reversed by global shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report presents priorities for an African policy agenda to steer the continent along a sustained path of growth, economic transformation, and resilience in the coming decades. It also provides a framework for domestic and international investors, African civil society, and external development partners to engage further with African governments to reorient and deepen collaborative efforts for sustainable development on the continent.
The report also finds that there is an untapped growth potential that could be realized by promoting manufacturing since the sector holds higher relative labor productivity than agriculture and services. Jobs remain a critical challenge to Africa’s economic development, especially for the continent’s booming youth population, and a coherent industrial policy is a key way for governments to ensure that more labor is helping expand manufacturing activities rather than moving into the low-wage, low-productivity informal sector.
The findings and recommendations presented in this report build on lessons from African development, focusing on the role of structural change and economic transformation in the growth process. They also take into account the implications of other current global and regional issues and megatrends that will impact Africa’s economic transformation agenda.
Download Report View Report View Report SummaryThe Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) facilitated this study as part of a broad research process to support the formulation of a new policy agenda to help Africa realize strong growth recovery while building resilient economies in the post-COVID-19 era. The report was prepared for discussion at the August 2022 Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8)