Recent Economic and Social Developments in West Africa and Prospects For 2012

he present report on the Economic and Social Conditions in West Africa for 2011 is a regular document presented to provide: (i) member States with an overview of the economic and social conditions in West Africa and prospects for 2012; and (ii) policy advice on selected policy issues in the sub-region.

This year’s report was compiled against the backdrop of an extremely uncertain global and subregional economic climate, and a volatile political setting in West Africa. As the report argues, the volatile global economic environment poses challenges for the calibration of a policy advice given the changing economic circumstances in the world economy and their ever-shifting implications for West Africa. Before the advent of recent military events in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, the West African region was poised for economic consolidation. This rosy scenario is now under threat, and the speed with which the political fallout in the two countries is resolved will determine the depth of socio-economic progress in 2012 and beyond.