Kenya is set to lose its position as the third largest economy in Sub Saharan Africa to Ethiopia and Angola. According to projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kenya will slip to fifth position and Angola taking the third position with Angola behind in fourth position.
According to Business Daily Africa, a return to growth linked to higher oil prices saw Angola overtake Kenya last year, according to the IMF, after the nation—which is the continent’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria—ended years of recession.
Ethiopia is this year set to replace Kenya from position four on the back of easing armed conflict in the nation and the continuation of the ambitious economic reform drive aimed at opening up one of Africa’s fastest-growing but most closed economies.
The IMF expects the economies of Ethiopia and Angola this year to expand by 13.5 percent and 8.6 percent respectively on dollar terms. However, Kenya is projected to record a slower growth of 2.4 percent in the review period as the country grapples with the aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, drought, election jitters and disruption of global supply chains by the Russia-Ukraine war.
