Reporting from Algiers, Algeria — The sun was setting over Algiers as delegates gathered at the 4th Intra-African Trade Fair 2025, and the conversation turned immediately to Africa’s economic future.
Acting director of Economic Development at the African Union, Patrick Ndzana Olomo, captured the audience’s attention with a bold vision: Africa could triple its GDP to $15 trillion within a decade.
Bold Growth Targets
“With strategic investments in agriculture, industry, and services, Africa could achieve annual growth of seven to ten per cent,” Olomo said, painting a picture of a continent on the rise.
He then warned that this transformation requires urgent action.
Currently, Africa loses around $587 billion each year to corruption, illicit financial flows, and negative risk perceptions — money that governments could channel toward the continent’s $472 billion annual development needs.
“We must build an economically viable continent that uses its resources wisely,” he emphasised.
Energy And Demographics
Furthermore, Olomo stressed that energy drives Africa’s growth.
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Governments need to invest in both hard and soft infrastructure, including sustainable and nuclear power, to achieve industrialisation.
Combined with Africa’s demographic advantage — soon, two-thirds of the world’s young people will be African — investors will find unprecedented opportunities.
Self-Sufficiency And Partnerships
However, Olomo pointed out, growth requires self-sufficiency.
Despite its fertile lands, Africa still relies heavily on imports.
“We cannot develop if we do not produce the goods we trade within the continent,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Caribbean representative highlighted a CARICOM-Afreximbank initiative to establish a marketplace representing all 55 African nations.
“We have already launched the project, and we are committed to making it succeed,” they said, signalling a new chapter in intercontinental collaboration.
