Focus on Africa: What happened at the World Economic Forum 2023

The continent as always, has great promise. This was the unanimous conclusion from the just-ended World Economic Forum, which is traditionally held at the Swiss resort town of Davos every year. However, significant obstacles stand in the way of the continent reclaiming its mantle of economic growth. The World Economic Forum held in Davos every has just ended. This year’s conference ran under the theme of Collaboration in a fragmented world. Africa was on the agenda of the World Economic Forum as is frequently the case. Discussions on Africa at the conference mainly centred on how the continent can regain its growth trajectory. The World Economic Forum (WEF) identified four principal factors causing economic headwinds in Africa and will stall its economic growth as a continent unless dealt with. The so called “stallers” of Africa’s economic growth are and will remain as conflict, COVID, climate, and cost of living. WEF found that these are the factors will slow the growth of Africa. Another perhaps more ominous factor established by the conference in Davos slowing down economic growth in Africa was the unsustainably high levels of debt.  Countries in Africa are spending on debt service payments as much as twice their