Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is showing signs of resilience, with growth projected to reach 3.8 percent in 2025, up slightly from 3.5 percent last year, according to the World Bank’s latest Africa’s Pulse report released Tuesday. The report attributes the improvement to easing inflation and a modest recovery in investment, even as the region grapples with severe fiscal and employment challenges.
The findings are particularly relevant for Liberia and its West African neighbors, where job creation remains a major concern despite signs of macroeconomic stabilization. The report warns that current growth rates remain “insufficient to meaningfully reduce extreme poverty or create the quantity and quality of jobs needed to meet the demands of a rapidly growing labor force.”
Across the region, inflationary pressures have eased considerably. The number of African countries with double-digit inflation has fallen from 23 in October 2022 to 10 as of July 2025, a sign that central banks’ tightening measures are beginning to take effect. Still, the World Bank cautions that economic recovery is fragile and that the continent faces serious headwinds–from shrinking development aid to rising debt burdens. External debt service has more than doubled in the past decade, reaching 2 percent of GDP in 2024.
Meanwhile, the number of countries either in or at high risk of debt distress has nearly tripled since 2014, from eight to 23–nearly half of Sub-Saharan Africa.
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The report emphasizes that the region’s demographic boom presents both an opportunity and a looming challenge. “Over the next quarter century, Sub-Saharan Africa’s working-age population will grow by more than 600 million,” said Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for the Africa Region. “The challenge will be matching this growing population with better jobs, given that only 24 percent of new workers today land wage-paying jobs. A structural shift toward more medium and large firms is essential to generate wage jobs at scale.”
In Liberia, where unemployment and underemployment remain stubbornly high–especially among youth–these findings underscore the urgency of policies that foster private sector expansion and formal job creation. The World Bank’s recommendations center on reducing the cost of doing business, expanding infrastructure such as energy, digital connectivity, and transport, and investing in human capital and skills development. The report also stresses the importance of strengthening institutions and governance to build investor confidence and ensure predictable business environments.
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Beyond policy, the World Bank identifies several industries with strong potential for job creation across Africa, including agribusiness, mining, tourism, healthcare, and housing and construction. It notes that “for every job created in tourism, an additional 1.5 jobs are generated in related sectors,” highlighting the importance of complementary industries in building sustainable employment ecosystems.
The report concludes that with the right reforms and investments, Sub-Saharan Africa can unlock its vast employment potential. “Reducing the cost of doing business is critical to enable businesses to expand and new high growth firms to enter the market,” it states. “Policies that target the provision of better infrastructure – energy, digital, transport – and human capital and skills development are essential for creating an ecosystem for people and businesses to thrive.”
For Liberia and other African countries, the challenge ahead lies in translating this resilience into broad-based, job-creating growth–an outcome the World Bank says will determine whether the region’s demographic surge becomes a dividend or a crisis.
