Africa Center

Concluding remarks highlighting the success of the 2022 Spring Meeting Dialogues and the World Bank Group perspectives.

A timely discussion on the 2022 IMF and World Bank Group Spring meeting key learnings and the economic situation of the African continent in a post-COVID-19 context and of the war in Ukraine.

Since its emergence in December 2019, the novel coronavirus has spread rampantly across the globe, overwhelming health systems and cratering the global economy. This series from the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center aims to follow the virus’ spread in Africa, tracking developments in key countries and adding expert commentary across topical themes.

From Mauritania on the Atlantic Ocean to Sudan on the Red Sea, the countries of the Sahel face the challenge of maintaining and deepening democratic governance in the context of a deteriorating security environment. As the incidence of violence, including terrorist attacks, has risen, the region has become increasingly on the global agenda, with vital engagements underway to develop security partnerships, curtail trafficking and smuggling, manage humanitarian responses, and confront the vulnerabilities of climate change.

In an already fragile Central African neighborhood, the Democratic Republic of the Congo—Africa’s second largest country by area, fourth largest by population, and potentially one of the richest countries on the continent with mineral reserves worth $24 trillion—stands at a vital juncture in its history.

The third largest country in Africa, Sudan sits at the intersection–both geographically and culturally–of the Arab and African worlds and, as such, exerts great influence in a turbulent region. In the wake of longtime president Omar al-Bashir’s removal from power in April 2019, and the ensuing turbulence, the country remains pivotal.