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Africa set for GDP growth of 4.5 trillion by 2025

4 Feb 2016

Urbanisation, mobility, infrastructure, natural resources, telecommunications investments and inter-regional trade are just a few of the untapped opportunities making Africa the last growth frontier. The continent is set to become the second fastest growing region by 2025, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $4.5 trillion.

In a new video, Mega Trends in Africa, Frost & Sullivan experts and C-level executives note that Africa is the only continent that has the potential to achieve double digit economic growth within the next decade. It is expected that close to half of the continent's population will live in large cities and that 58% of its working age population (15-64) will exist in 2025. If this trend continues for the next 20 years, Africa will have the highest labour population surpassing both China and India.

"The growth rates promised by Africa are second to that of South East Asia at the moment", notes Hendrik Malan, operations director at Frost & Sullivan Africa. "The big advantage that Africa does have, believe it or not, is the lack of infrastructure and the lack of legacy systems because our ability to leapfrog technologies and get access to that growth much sooner than, for instance, South East Asia had the ability to do is significantly better".

Key trends revealed in the Mega Trends in Africa analysis:

• Africa will have tremendous market potential for firms that are operating in the digital currency space. By the end of 2015, there will be 12 million Bitcoin wallets in Africa and nearly one-third of Kenyans will be using a Bitcoin wallet.

• Online retail will grow significantly in the next five years and will account for nearly 7% of total retail sales in Africa in 2025. Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya are emerging as the top markets for online retailing in Africa.

• Energy demand will grow to 930.4 MTOE in 2025, which is more than double the current demand. The mining and minerals industry will be the bulk consumers of energy by 2025. Africa will grow from its current nascent stage to an emerging renewable energy hub with a substantial compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% by 2025

• Africa's trade volume is likely to grow threefold by 2030. East Africa is projected to have the highest growth in trade volume, driven by improved transportation infrastructure. The Proposed Free Trade Area (T-FTA) between South African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and East African Community (EAC) is expected to drive imports by an average of 60% by 2020.