India’s Investment Potential in Africa

Africa is a diverse continent and is well endowed with various natural resources. About 30% of the global mineral reserves, 8% of global natural gas, 12% of the world’s oil reserves, 40% of the world’s gold and up to 90% of global chromium and platinum is concentrated in the region. During the last decade, Africa’s GDP has grown at a moderate rate of 3%. The economy contracted by 1.8% in 2020, after growing at 2.9% in 2019. Africa’s GDP is dominated by its commodity dependent regions, the largest being North Africa. In 2021, Nigeria had the highest GDP of US$ 518.5 billion at constant 2015 prices among all the African countries. High inflation is perceived as one the most urgent challenges in Africa. The average annual inflation of 14.5% in the region is much higher than the world average of 8.8% in 2022. While inflation in Africa has been persistently high over the years, the surge in the recent years is attributed to the external global developments since the start of the pandemic.