Africa
The April 2025 edition of Africa’s Pulse reports that economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is showing some resilience, despite uncertainty in the global economy and restricted fiscal space. Regional growth is expected to reach 3.5 percent in 2025 and further accelerate to 4.3 percent in 2026-2027, mainly due to increased private consumption and investments as inflation cools down and currencies stabilize. However, countries rich in resources and those facing fragility, conflict, and violence are growing more slowly than the rest of the region, and the region is struggling to reduce poverty and create enough good jobs for its young population. Escaping the cycle of poor growth outcomes and political dissatisfaction will require that governments prioritize the delivery of practical solutions for their citizens. This implies focusing on areas where governments directly affect people’s lives—providing quality public services and fairly-regulated market competition.
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East Asia and Pacific
East Asia and Pacific (EAP) outpaced most regions in economic growth in 2024. To sustain this momentum and generate jobs, EAP countries must navigate global uncertainty and tackle long-term challenges tied to shifting global integration, climate change, and demographic trends. In its
2025 Regional Economic Update, the World Bank projects that growth in EAP will slow down to 4.0 percent in 2025, compared to 5.0 percent in 2024. Prospects for higher or lower growth depend partly on broader growth prospects, but also on how country policies respond to uncertainty in the global environment.
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Europe and Central Asia
Growth in the developing economies of Europe and Central Asia is expected to slow significantly to 2.5 percent on average in 2025-26 in the face of profound global uncertainty. To boost competitiveness and create jobs, the region must improve its business environment and foster its private sector. That will require focusing policy interventions on promoting young, dynamic firms over state-owned enterprises; improving access to long-term financing for entrepreneurs; investing in upskilling and education to train the workforce necessary to remain competitive in the global economy; and ensuring fair access to markets and technologies. Improving business dynamism and unleashing private sector-led job creation is crucial for middle-income economies across Europe and Central Asia to make progress on growing to high-income status and building economies resilient to global economic shocks.
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Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin American and Caribbean countries face the challenge of adapting their economic strategies to cope with growing uncertainties, amid increasing global economic volatility. The report projects growth of 2.1 percent in 2025 and 2.4 percent in 2026, making the region the slowest growing one in the world. Low investment, high debt, and a shifting external environment are major barriers to the region’s development. Despite some progress in controlling inflation, fiscal deficits remain a pressing concern, with the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio expected to reach 63.3 percent in 2024, up from 59.4 percent in 2019.
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Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is estimated to have grown at a modest rate of 1.9 percent in 2024, against a backdrop of increased global uncertainty. The region is far from the frontier in standards of living, largely due to low productivity. This issue of the MENA Economic Update sheds light on a critical engine of productivity growth: the private sector. Businesses create jobs, boost livelihoods, and serve as a bastion of innovation in the economy. Overall, however, the MENA private sector is not dynamic and is ill prepared to absorb shocks. To boost the performance of the private sector, governments in the region may need to rethink their role in engaging with markets, including improving competition, the business environment, and the availability of data. Additionally, private sector businesses in the region can increase performance through better management practices and harnessing untapped talent in the region.
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South Asia
South Asia’s growth prospects have weakened amid increasing uncertainty in the global economy. Regional growth is projected to slow to 5.8 percent in 2025—0.4 percentage points below October projections. Multiple shocks over the past decade have left South Asian countries with limited fiscal buffers. The region needs targeted reforms to strengthen economic resilience and unlock faster growth and job creation. Stepping up domestic revenue mobilization could help the region strengthen fragile fiscal positions and increase resilience against future shocks. Although tax rates in South Asia are often above the average in developing economies, most tax revenues are lower. The report recommends a range of policies to improve tax revenues by eliminating loopholes, streamlining tax codes, tightening enforcement, and facilitating tax compliance.
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