The Characteristics and Challenges of the economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the characteristics of economic growth in Sub-Saharan African countries and analyzes the challenges which the countries have faced in making the growth sustainable. Notably, differently from what it was like before 2000, Sub-Saharan African economy has continued to grow more than 5 percent per year on average since the year, 2000. This brings an expectation that the growth trend will continue in the future. However, some concerns are growing over the future of Sub-Saharan African economy. They include whether or not the growth trend can be sustained, and if so, at what level and how. In this paper, I argue that Sub-Saharan Africa has confronted some challenges to solve in order to keep the positive trend continue for a longer term. The challenges that Sub-Saharan African countries need to solve are as follows: 1) the democratization through political reform and fighting corruption; 2) the set up of efficient industrial policy system, financial and debt reduction; 3) the establishment of the new African development model. Finally, this paper concludes that the future of Sub-Saharan African countries’ economy is bright as long as they take active participate in economic development with a strong sense of ownership and also cooperate with each other.