Ethiopia is the fastest-growing economy in 2017, according to the World Bank’s latest edition of Global Economic Prospects.
Ethiopia’s GDP is forecast to grow by 8.3% in 2017. By contrast, global growth is projected to be 2.7%. The East African country’s accelerating growth comes on the back of government spending on infrastructure. However, borrowing to finance Ethiopia’s large public infrastructure projects has led to a rise in public debt, which increased by more than 10% of GDP between 2014 and 2016, and now exceeds 50% of GDP.
Global growth is predicted to rise by 2.7% on the back of a pick-up in manufacturing and trade, improved market confidence and a recovery in commodity prices. Uzbekistan has the second-fastest-growing economy, with projected growth of 7.6% thanks to rising oil prices, benign global financing conditions, robust growth in the Euro Area, and generally supportive policies among governments of several large countries in the region.
Nepal is next, with a 7.5% projection. Nepal’s growth has rebounded strongly following a good monsoon, reconstruction efforts after the 2015 earthquake and normalization of trade with India, says the Bank.
India is the fourth-fastest-growing economy with 7.2% projected growth, thanks in part to a rise in exports and an increase in government spending.
Among the other top 10 performers are Djibouti and Laos with 7% and Cambodia, the Philippines and Myanmar with 6.9%. China, despite experiencing a slowdown and an economic transition, was in 16th place with 6.5% expected growth.
