Since 2006, The World Bank’s annual Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) Report has been a guide for countries, policymakers, and investors, identifying key trends and best practices that support effective public service delivery and foster a more resilient and prosperous future for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The CPIA is an annual diagnostic tool for SSA countries eligible for financing from the International Development Association (IDA), the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s low-income countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people’s lives. The CPIA Report aims to capture the quality of each country’s policies and institutional arrangements, focusing on the elements within the country’s control. The scores are designed to assess sustainable growth and poverty reduction. The CPIA provides scores for each country, and an overall regional score, on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 6 (highest) in four clusters: economic management, structural policies, social inclusion and equity policies, and public sector management and institutions. The scores inform governments of the impact of each country’s efforts to support inclusive growth and poverty reduction, and the overall score helps determine the size of the World Bank’s concessional lending and grants to low-income SSA countries. The report includes scores for IDA-eligible countries and acts as a touchstone for country monitoring and regional best practices.
This year, the report reveals that despite a stable average CPIA score, there is an urgent need for strengthening essential services to achieve inclusive, sustainable growth amid tighter credit markets and limited external finance. The six charts below shed some light on these findings.
No. 1 – SSA scores are broadly consistent with global averages for the second year in a row
The average CPIA score for IDA-eligible countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024 remained roughly equal to 2023, at 3.1 points (out of 6). However, deficient performance in governance offset reforms in other areas, and improvements were concentrated in already well-performing countries. In the aggregate, SSA has made progress in three of the four major categories since 2015 and has even surpassed the global IDA average in clusters A (economic management) and C (policies for social inclusion and equity). Yet, the narrowing gap between SSA and the rest of the IDA countries has been undermined by the region’s much slower improvement in governance (cluster D, public sector management and institutions).
Source: CPIA database, 2025 Note: IDA = International Development Association; SSA = Sub-Saharan Africa.
No. 2 – IDA economies in SSA are performing better
Although the region saw a rise of public discontent in 2024, its economies did relatively well. The region’s real GDP grew by 3.3 percent in 2024, up from 2.1 percent in 2023, boosted by strong global trade and the easing of global financial conditions. In per capita terms, this led from a regional decline of 0.5 percent in 2023 to an expansion of 0.7 percent in 2024. Recent bouts of inflation experienced in many Sub-Saharan African countries have subsided as the median rate of inflation decreased from a peak of 9.3 percent in 2022 to 4.5 percent in 2024. This has allowed central banks to start relaxing monetary policies, leading to an increase in the median investment level among IDA countries, from 24.0 to 25.1 percent of GDP.
Source: World Bank Macro-Fiscal Modeling Team Note: f = forecast; GDP = gross domestic product; IDA = International Development Association.
No. 3 – Public service delivery remains a point of contention among citizens
The year 2024 was marked by youth protests (more than seven thousand demonstrations) and a decline in political support for incumbents across the continent. Survey results show growing dissatisfaction with the quality of public services, which continue to lag other regions, particularly in infrastructure, human capital, security, and administrative capabilities.
Source: Afrobarometer Note: The figure shows the proportion of respondents claiming that the government handles public services “very badly.” The sample only includes countries with data available for both sets of surveys for each category. The baseline year for electricity is 2016/17, as data are not available for 2014/15.
No. 4 – Undermining government effectiveness, especially for fragile countries
Service quality in Sub-Saharan Africa has lagged that of other regions. This can be seen directly through the quality of basic infrastructure services, such as transportation, electricity, and internet. The quality of infrastructure services is lower in the region even when correcting for the level of GDP. This is partly due to colonial legacies, although the governance of infrastructure investment, regulatory frameworks, and engineering capacity have significant impacts. Low service quality continues to hamper economic activity and quality of life for Africans.
In 2024 there were more upgrades in higher performing countries and more downgrades in lower performing ones compared to 2023, and this divergence is most pronounced at the extremes, with a downgrade in the lowest-scoring country (South Sudan) and a 0.2-point downgrade in the third lowest (Sudan). On the other end of the spectrum, both the highest-scoring country (Rwanda) and the third highest (Côte d’Ivoire) saw increases in their scores.
A similar divergence can be seen between resource-rich economies and those not reliant on resource revenues. There were five score downgrades for resource-rich countries and three downgrades for non-resource-rich countries, compared to four and seven, respectively, in 2023. This difference is even more stark for individual score movements, as resource-rich countries saw over twice as many downgrades as upgrades, with sixteen downgrades compared to seven upgrades. In contrast, upgrades and downgrades were balanced for non-resource-rich countries, at 25 of each.
Source: World Governance Indicators
No. 5 – Elevated levels of public debt constrain investment into service delivery
External debt distress risks in Sub-Saharan Africa have increased dramatically over the past decade. The share of countries in debt distress, or at risk of debt distress, rose from 25 percent in 2012, doubling to 50 percent in 2019. This continued to rise to 61 percent, with a slight easing to what are still quite high levels at 53 percent of countries considered at risk.
Some countries in the region have made considerable progress in debt consolidation, however. Of the 40 IDA-eligible countries covered by the CPIA, 26 have debt-to-GDP levels lower than in 2022.
Source: Calculations based on data from the World Economic Outlook, October 2024, International Monetary Fund. Note: Averages are weighted by GDP. GDP = gross domestic product; IDA = International Development Association; SSA = Sub-Saharan Africa.
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No. 6 – Existing resources need to be better managed for more effective service delivery
Improving public financial management (PFM) performance is crucial for promoting fiscal discipline, enhancing service delivery, and achieving positive development outcomes. As populations grow and economies become more complex, managing limited resources becomes increasingly important. Clear financial plans help prevent overspending, while a sound budget ensures that essential expenses are covered, debts are managed, and stability is maintained. Transparency and accountability in financial decision-making are vital for fostering investments that create jobs.
Currently, African policy makers face gaps in transparency, accountability, budget execution, and internal controls that must be addressed directly to improve performance. Moreover, weak debt management increases interest payments and reduces investment capacity. However, several countries have made efforts to reduce unreported extrabudgetary expenditures, while digitization of fiscal processes have been widely implemented in an effort to improve efficiency and transparency. Nevertheless, the region performed lowest of all regions across all aspects related to public financial management except “external audit and scrutiny” according to a 2022 regional comparison of 80 Public Expenditure Financial Accounability (PEFA) assessments.
Source: PEFA 2022 Global Report on Public Financial Management, Pefa.org, https://www.pefa.org/global-report-2022/en/report/global-pfm-performance/
Note: EAP = East Asia and the Pacific; ECA = Europe and Central Asia; LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean; MNA = Middle East and North Africa; PFM = public financial management; SAR = South Asia; SSA = Sub-Saharan Africa