Africa’s 2023 Year in Review

Recapping the important developments in 2023 that are likely to shape African states' economic and political futures.

This was An Africanist Perspective’s first year on Substack. Many thanks to the thousands of regular readers and subscribers from 138 different countries. You are the reason I’ll keep doing this (with greater frequency) in 2024. If you haven’t done so yet, please hit subscribe in order not to miss any updates.

As 2023 comes to a close it’s important to take stock of this year’s important economic and political developments that are likely to shape African countries’ futures. Below I outline the five key things that happened (or started happening) in 2023 that I believe will have lasting influence on the region’s politics and economics.

I: An important but underrated shift in Nigeria’s political economy

Nigeria comprises 67% of ECOWAS GDP. And despite the still low levels of economic integration and trade within ECOWAS, it’s fair to say that as Nigeria goes so does the regional economy. Which is why I’m very excited about the potential for Nigeria to witness reforms in the most distorti…