The most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Six days a week.
The World Bank raised its 2026 growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 4.3% on 6 October, 0.3 percentage points above its April projection, after growth of 4.1% in 2025. Its twice-yearly Africa's Pulse report upgraded nearly three-quarters of the region's economies, including Nigeria, Angola, Ethiopia and Zambia, and found that public debt has stabilised at about 57% of gross domestic product (GDP). The Bank expects median inflation to rise from 3.7% to 5.5% this year as fuel, fertiliser and food prices climb. Income per person is set to grow by only 1.8%, so faster growth will do little for households, and about half of the region's countries remain in debt distress or at high risk of it.
Senegal told external creditors on 6 October that it aims to reach an agreement in principle with official lenders and bondholders by December, Reuters reported, citing three sources. Talks under the G20 Common Framework would run with both groups in parallel, not in sequence as in Ghana and Zambia, and would cover about $1.7 billion in total return swaps but exclude debt in CFA francs. The government reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 1 September after the discovery of about $13 billion in hidden debt. A quick deal would shorten a long period of uncertainty over Senegal's finances, but holders of its $5.2 billion in Eurobonds could face losses.
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) said on 6 October that it will sell $840 million at foreign exchange auctions in the second quarter of the 2026/27 fiscal year, up from $500 million in the first. It will hold six fortnightly auctions of $140 million between 13 October and 22 December, against $125 million per round before. Banks bid less than the amount on offer at both September auctions, and the birr cleared at 160.23 to the dollar on 23 September, against about 57 before the currency was floated in July 2024. A larger, regular dollar supply gives importers more predictable access to foreign currency and should narrow the gap with the parallel market.
