Sub-Saharan Africa recorded its fastest economic growth in over a decade in 2025, reaching 4.5%, driven by domestic reforms in countries such as Ethiopia and Nigeria that brought down inflation and narrowed fiscal deficits, according to the International Monetary Fund's latest Regional Economic Outlook. However, the IMF has trimmed its 2026 growth forecast for the region to 4.3%, warning that escalating conflict in the Middle East is pushing up energy and food prices, disrupting trade and remittances, and hitting low-income and oil-importing nations hardest. Abebe Aemro Selassie, outgoing Director of the IMF's African Department, cautioned that a sharp decline in international aid is compounding these pressures, and called on governments to protect vulnerable populations while pressing ahead with structural reforms and greater regional integration — including through the African Continental Free Trade Area (a continent-wide trade pact aimed at boosting intra-African commerce) — to safeguard the progress achieved.