Africa, Global Economy | featured news

Sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth is set to outpace the global average over the next three years, according to the World Bank. Higher commodities, increasing investment and a general pick-up in the world economy should all boost the continent's growth to more than 5%.

Leaders of the five BRICS nations fueling global economic growth plan the creation of a development bank in a direct challenge to the World Bank that they accuse of Western bias.

Egypt prepared to announce on Tuesday the result of a vote on a new constitution that Islamist President Mohamed Mursi hails as a step toward stability in a country beset by political and economic crisis.

Africa will continue its economic growth into the next year, but faces increasing threats from continued political instability, youth unemployment and the global recession dragging down oil and commodity prices, a leading economist said Tuesday.

The housewives and breadwinners stepping out of a Cairo supermarket with bags of groceries agreed on one thing. “The prices are very high,” said Sabah Fehmi, 58. “The economy has been very bad after the revolution.”

Tunisia's government said it needs $125 billion in funding over the next five years to finance a massive economic program aimed at boosting growth and cutting unemployment, state-run news agency TAP said on Sunday.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Tuesday unveiled $6 billion in funding to help Tunisia and Egypt address budget and reserve shortfalls this year and next, following popular uprisings that ended years of dictatorships but which have caused economic stress.

The United States is studying ways to support Egypt's economy following Hosni Mubarak's overthrow, the U.S. embassy said on Monday after a U.S. newspaper said Washington had decided to provide $1 billion in debt relief.