What: Launch of the East Africa Economic Outlook 2021

Who: African Development Bank, East Africa Regional Office

When: 28 October 2021; 14:00 (EAT)

Where: Virtual. Please register here.

The African Development Bank's East Africa Regional Economic Outlook 2021 reviews the economic performance of 13 countries: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Overall, East Africa's GDP growth is projected to recover to an average of 4.1% in 2021 from 0.4% in 2020, supported by the global economic recovery. However, the slow rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and risks of spikes in infections could dampen that outlook. The pandemic has had diverse impacts across the region, with countries highly dependent on tourism being the hardest hit.

In recent years the region's public debt has risen due to several factors: a slowdown in real GDP growth, emergency spending in the health sector, and reduced inflows of commodity revenues. In addition, East Africa's external public debt, like that of many African countries, has become more market-based and less concessional, which increases rollover risks.

The details of these and other perspectives are contained in the report, which also discusses policy interventions needed to accelerate the region's recovery and build resilience in the wake of Covid-19, including ramping up vaccinations and designing and implementing economic stimulus packages and recovery strategies towards credible fiscal consolidation programs, among others.

Journalists will be given an opportunity to ask questions about the report.

Media contact:

Grace Kiire, Communication and External Relations Department, African Development Bank, email: g.kiire@afdb.org