Economy West Africa Homepage

BMI View: Despite rapid import growth due to surging fixed capital investment, Côte d'Ivoire's current account deficit will remain contained over the coming years. Buoyant... 2013-05-24

Cameroon's budget deficit will narrow slightly in 2013, based in part on the expansion of the oil sector and associated revenues. Nevertheless, due to high government spending, the... 2013-05-24

BMI View: While falling oil production is severely reducing government revenues and causing Gabon's fiscal balance to deteriorate, relatively weak import demand means that the country... 2013-05-24

Thanks to statistical base effects, inflation has headed sharply lower in 2013 compared to 2012, but we believe it will begin to edge upward following the disruptions associated with... 2013-05-24

We forecast that the Bank of Ghana's Monetary Policy Committee will hike rates by a further 100bps in the second half of the year, following the 100bps increase on May 22. Our view... 2013-05-23

Notwithstanding concerns over the official GDP data, we note several encouraging trends in the Ghanaian economy, and maintain our outlook for buoyant economic activity. We forecast... 2013-05-23

Although the official data on real GDP growth show a sharp slowdown in 2012, we nevertheless maintain our positive view on Ghana, given that a number of other sources point to buoyant... 2013-04-26

BMI View: Cameroon's growth is expected to be supported over the medium term by substantial investments, particularly public expenditures on major infrastructure projects. This will... 2013-04-26

BMI View: Following debt forgiveness in 2012, Côte d'Ivoire's government debt is now relatively low. We estimate that total government guaranteed external debt will be worth... 2013-04-26

BMI View: Gabon's fiscal surplus is shrinking rapidly as oil production stagnates and government spending remains high due President Ali Bongo's investment-heavy development plans.... 2013-04-26