ABSTRACT
This chapter overviews the size and structure of Africa’s economies, paying attention to recent trends of growth and decline, before moving on to examine the relative importance of the continent’s various economic sectors – agriculture, mining, manufacturing and services. It overviews current factors impacting Africa’s economies, including the changing roles played by FDI, the role of China, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and future growth prospects. For a number of years, since the start of the twentieth century, the small central African state of Equatorial Guinea has had the distinction of having the most rapid economic growth rate of all African countries. The agricultural sector spans a spectrum of activities from commercial coffee and tea estates in countries such as Kenya and Zambia, to continued reliance on subsistence and pastoral systems across large parts of the continent. Mining and crude oil outputs in terms of production and exports are key contributors to the economy in many parts of Africa.
