Sub-Saharan Africa Market Overview

The World Bank reported in 2024 that increased private consumption and declining inflation are supporting an economic rebound in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024. However, the recovery remains fragile due to uncertain global economic conditions, growing debt service obligations, frequent natural disasters, and escalating conflict and violence, according to the World Bank's latest Africa's Pulse report. Transformative policies are needed to address deep-rooted inequality to sustain long-term growth and effectively reduce poverty.

The World Bank's report projects that growth will rebound in 2024, rising from a low of 3.1% in 2023 to 4% in 2024, and 3.8% in 2025. However, this recovery remains tenuous. While inflation is cooling across most economies, falling from a median of 7.1% to 5.1% in 2024, it remains high compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. Additionally, while the growth of public debt is slowing, more than half of African governments grapple with external liquidity problems and face unsustainable debt burdens.

Overall, the report underscores that despite the projected boost in growth, the pace of economic expansion in the region remains below the growth rate of the previous decade (2000-2014) and is insufficient to have a significant effect on poverty reduction. Moreover, due to multiple factors including structural inequality, economic growth reduces poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa less than in other regions.

"Per capita GDP growth of 1% is associated with a reduction in the extreme poverty rate of only about 1% in the region, compared to 2.5% on average in the rest of the world," said Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa. "In a context of constrained government budgets, faster poverty reduction will not be achieved through fiscal policy alone. It needs to be supported by policies that expand the productive capacity of the private sector to create more and better jobs for all segments of society."

U.S. exports of processed foods to Sub-Saharan Africa totaled US$557.7 million in 2023, a decrease of 3%. In 2024, U.S. processed food exports dropped another 6% to US$523.6 million.

According to Euromonitor, retail sales in the packaged food market reached US$107.1 billion, with a growth rate of 53.7% or US$37.4 billion since 2020. By the year 2029, the retail sales in the packaged food market in Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to reach US$211.1 billion, a growth rate of 52.5% and US$62.5 billion from 2025.