L'économie africaine 2025: English version of Introduction & 1st Chapter

Since 2020, La Découverte and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) have published an annual edition of L’Économie africaine, aiming to provide an accessible macroeconomic analysis of the African continent while identifying key challenges and highlighting emerging sustainable development solutions. From its inception, L’Économie africaine has adopted an “All Africa” perspective, avoiding a horizontal segmentation of the continent and seeking to report on developments across Africa as a whole. This comprehensive approach allows for a rediscovery of Africa in all its dimensions, enabling a better understanding of both the challenges common to the entire continent and the diversity of the situations and transformations taking place there.

This sixth edition comes at a time when geopolitical issues are more than ever disrupting Africa’s development dynamics. The resurgence of violence, intra- and inter-state conflicts, and proxy wars testify to the shifting of geopolitical tectonic plates, driven by zones of high tension. In a world of multiple fault lines, responses to systemic challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and rapid technological advancements are becoming ever more complex. These challenges are not only testing the system of international governance but also reshaping cooperation at the local level. For in order to ensure humanity’s survival, the global order that was previously built around a peace based on fossil fuel dependence is now striving to achieve a decarbonized peace. Aligning development trajectories with climate objectives and social justice requires robust policy frameworks and a broad coalition of stakeholders from government, civil society, and the worlds of finance, business, and research, in order to integrate security with sustainability

The full version of this publication is available in French to be purchased.