Open Knowledge Repository Maigret English Español Français Português Arabic Russian Chinese Collections Browse Statistics FOCUS Home 09. Serial Publications Africa Economic Update (AFR REU) Africa Economic Update, April 2026: Making Industrial Policy Work in Africa Publication: Africa Economic Update, April 2026: Making Industrial Policy Work in Africa cb PostLikeShare Loading... Files in English Full Report (3.62 MB) 16,004 downloads Executive Summary (354.8 KB) 1,984 downloads Other Files French Full Report (3.94 MB) 7,134 downloads French Executive Summary (359.53 KB) 1,649 downloads Published 2026-04-08 ISSN Date 2026-04-08 Author(s) World Bank Editor(s) PostLikeShare Abstract Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic recovery from successive global shocks is losing momentum, with growth projections for 2026 revised downward from those published in October 2025. Geopolitical spillovers from the conflict in the Middle East, high debt service burdens, and structural weaknesses are limiting growth prospects and job creation. Against this backdrop, the report argues that Africa’s growth challenge is structural, reflected in low investment, weak productivity, and limited job creation. While interest in industrial policy has revived, past efforts often failed due to weak implementation capacity, fiscal and institutional constraints. The report proposes a pragmatic, ecosystem based approach that aligns policy tools with country capabilities to deliver productivity gains and durable structural transformation. Link to Data Set Citation World Bank. 2026. Making Industrial Policy Work in Africa. Africa Economic Update (April 2026). World Bank, Washington, DC. doi: 10.1596/978-1-4648-2333-6. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO Digital Object Identifier https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-2333-6 URI https://hdl.handle.net/10986/44533 Associated URLs Associated content Report Series Other publications in this report series Journal Journal Volume Journal Issue Collections Africa Economic Update (AFR REU) All Regional Economic Updates (REUs) French PDFs Available Full item page Show statistical information Related items Showing items related by metadata. Publication South Asia Economic Update, April 2026: Working with Industrial Policy (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-04-08) World Bank Show more South Asia’s growth again surprised on the upside but is expected to slow in 2026 amid headwinds from global energy market dislocations. Over the medium-term, trade reforms in South Asian countries could unlock further growth by reducing trade barriers, especially for emerging export sectors. Across South Asia, accelerating job creation is becoming harder as job prospects erode in AI-exposed activities and long-standing subnational labor market disparities persist. To achieve policy goals, South Asian countries make proactive use of industrial policies, at about twice the rate of other EMDEs. Since 2022, about half of South Asia’s industrial policies have been directed at the manufacturing sector, particularly toward activities with larger employment, higher average wages, or larger or more productive firms. More than other EMDEs, South Asia has deployed trade-related industrial policy measures but their track record in South Asia has been mixed, with import restrictions lowering imports significantly but export support not materially raising exports. Given limited fiscal space and administrative capacity, cross-cutting measures to improve infrastructure, skilling opportunities, and the business environment remain a priority to accelerate and spread growth and jobs more evenly. These can be complemented by targeted industrial policies, prioritizing those that address market failures directly. Show more Publication Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan Economic Update, April 2026: Challenges of Conflict and Industrial Policy for Development (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-04-08) World Bank Show more Conflict has engulfed the MENAAP region, exacting a serious human and economic toll and heightening geopolitical uncertainty. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and damage to energy infrastructure have pushed up oil prices, increased financial volatility, and weakened the 2026 growth outlook. A prolonged conflict would intensify displacement, fiscal pressures, and losses in trade, tourism and remittances, hitting a region already burdened by sluggish productivity, weak labor markets, and limited private sector dynamism. These shocks expose deeper structural weaknesses: limited diversification, weak productivity, and fragile labor markets. Against this backdrop, the report turns to industrial policy as a tool for long-term growth. Widely used across the region, often through sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises, industrial policies can address market failures and foster growth – but only when aligned with country capabilities, implemented with accountability and backed by capable institutions. Show more Publication Chad Economic Update, April 2026: Special Chapter - Unlocking the Potential of MSMEs and Job Creation (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-04-30) World Bank Show more This 2026 Economic Update for Chad contains two chapters. The first chapter presents the economic and poverty developments observed in the country in 2025 as well as the outlook from 2026 to 2028. The second chapter offers a deep dive on private sector development, with a particular focus on MSMEs and Job Creation. It also offers recommendations for unlocking the sector’s full potential. Show more Publication Latin America And Caribbean Economic Update, April 2026: Revisiting Industrial Policy: Strategic Options for Today (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-04-08) Maloney, William F.; Vuletin, Guillermo; Zambrano, Andrés Show more Growth and quality job creation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) remain subdued amid a challenging global environment. Inflation continues to decline, but monetary easing has proceeded more slowly than anticipated, non-energy commodity prices are softening, and persistent fiscal deficits continue to constrain needed investment. In addition, the rapid evolution of the global trade regime, together with heightened volatility in energy markets linked to the recent conflict in the Middle East, creates high levels of uncertainty around investment, inflation, and monetary policy undermining medium term growth prospects. Frustration with a lack of progress on the longer-term growth and jobs agenda, combined with the emergence of new academic studies on the Asian Miracles has moved Industrial Policy back to the center of the policy debate in much of the developing world. While policy makers need to remain open to the emerging lessons, LAC’s historical experience—from import substitution industrialization, through market-oriented reforms, to the recent return of industrial policy—shows that across sectors and policy regimes, weak productivity growth persisted, importantly because the region lacked the capability to identify and exploit new technologies, processes, products, and markets. Hence, industrial policy needs to be thought of importantly as “learning policy,” with four agendas: building capabilities across the human capital spectrum; facilitating experimentation and risk-taking; exploiting openness productively; and, to redress the market failures attending each agenda, strengthening the state. Show more Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, April 2026: Industrial Policy (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-04-08) World Bank Show more The resilience of the countries of Europe and Central Asia is tested again by the crisis in the Middle East and rising energy import prices. Growth in the region is likely to weaken to 2.2 percent on average in 2026-27 from 2.6 percent in 2025. The pace of economic expansion in the Russian Federation is expected to ease amid reduced fiscal support and structural constraints. Growth in Türkiye is likely to drop to 2.8 percent this year because of higher energy and food prices, before firming to 3.7 percent in 2027. Risks to the outlook are substantial. A more protracted and intense conflict in the Middle East could severely disrupt global energy flows, pushing oil, natural gas, and fertilizer prices higher and leading to much weaker growth and higher inflation. Growth in the euro area could falter, especially if global trade tensions escalate. Industrial policy interventions in ECA have surged since 2020. After an initial increase to cover pandemic relief, the focus has shifted toward economic development, energy efficiency, food and supply chain resilience, critical minerals, and national security. Domestic subsidies and nontariff measures account for most of ECA’s industrial policies; import tariffs are rarely used. Although resorting to industrial policies may be tempting in times of weaker productivity growth, policymakers should use them sparingly to address specific market failures while preserving competition, not as the main engine for development. The priority for governments needs to be the modernization of institutions, business environments, and educational systems to support productivity gains and job creation. If justified, industrial policies should focus on providing tailored public inputs and prioritize new firms or ideas, rather than protect existing sectors or incumbents. Show more Users also downloaded Showing related downloaded files Publication World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-12-11) World Bank Show more Standards make everyday life run smoothly. You rarely notice them: the credit card that works in any corner of the world, the Wi-Fi signal that connects a remote village to the cloud, or the vaccine vial that fits syringes from Dakar to Delhi. When standards work, they build trust. They free people and firms to focus on creating, trading, and innovating, confident that the systems around them will hold. When standards fail, the effects are immediate and draining. Payments are declined, signals drop, vaccines spoil—and instead of being productive, people spend their energy just meeting their basic needs. Standards, in short, are the hidden infrastructure of modern economies—and they have never been more important. Developing countries today must contend with a thicket of increasingly stringent international standards, a product of globalization and rapid technological change. Using standards—and shaping them—is now a prerequisite for export growth, technology diffusion, and the efficient delivery of public services. Yet standards are too often overlooked by policy makers, especially in developing countries. World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development provides the most comprehensive assessment of the global landscape of standards today and how they can be used to accelerate economic development. It offers a practical framework for countries at all stages of development. Countries at the earliest stage should adapt international standards to suit local conditions when needed, whereas at more advanced stages, they should aim to align domestic markets with international standards. Meanwhile, all countries should author international standards in priority areas. Show more Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2026 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026-01-13) World Bank Show more The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable intern…