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In its latest global economic forecast, the World Bank has projected that Sub-Saharan Africa, which was hit hard in 2016 by the slump in commodity prices, will record GDP growth rate of 2.9% in 2017, up from 1.5% last year. The January 2017 Global Economic Prospects report released on Tuesday, shows that the Nigerian economy is forecasted to grow at 1%, while the continent's second largest economy, South Africa, is projected to grow at 1.1%.

The multilateral lender said emerging and developing economies have faced several obstacles to growth, including low oil prices (for oil exporters), slowing foreign direct investment (for commodity importers), and more broadly, private debt burdens and political risk. Investment growth fell to 3.4% in 2015 from average 10% in 2010, and likely declined by another half percentage point in 2016.

Low commodity prices and weak global trade are expected to continue to create challenging conditions for commodity-exporting countries. Growth in South Africa, Nigeria and other oil exporters is expected to be weaker, while growth in African economies that are not natural-resource intensive should remain robust.

Despite the weak investment climate, the World Bank estimates global economic growth to accelerate moderately to 2.7% in 2017 after a post-crisis low of 2.3% last year. On a regional level, South Asia is expected to remain the fastest-growing region in 2017, growing at 7.1%; East Asia and Pacific is forecasted to grow at 6.2%; Middle East and North Africa, 3.1%; Latin America and Caribbean, 1.2%; Europe and Central Asia, 2.4%; the Euro Area GDP growth forecast is 1.5%, Japan 0.9% and United States 2.2%.

The SSA region is forecasted to expand by 3.6% next year.

South Africa, whose economy slowed to 0.4% last year has been forecasted to grow at 1.1% and 1.8% in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Angola, the second largest oil exporter on the continent is projected to expand at a rate of 1.2 per cent this year and 0.9% in 2018.

The World Bank said the Nigerian economy will rebound from recession in 2017 and grow by 2.5% next year. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced in December his administration’s fiscal plan to spend N6.866 trillion ($21.8 billion) in 2017 to pull the economy out of recession. The proposed spending for 2017 is 13.35 higher than N6.06 trillion ($19.2 billion) budget for 2016. The federal government also increased budgetary allocations to the Niger Delta amnesty and development programmes to achieve a cessation of violence by militants in the region and boost oil production.