Flooding and an unstable security environment have hampered Chad’s expected economic recovery, according to the World Bank

N’DJAMENA – Chad experienced a modest GDP growth in 2022, as floods and an unstable security environment hampered the expected recovery, according to a World Bank report released on the third edition of the “Knowledge Week”, a workshop for the dissemination of reports that tackle key growth and development issues in Chad.

After contracting by 1.2% in 2021 (-4.3% per capita), the Chadian economy was expected to recover in 2022 thanks to high oil prices, an increased oil production and the depreciation of the FCFA/USD exchange rate. However, the recovery has hindered by floods and a volatile security environment, with GDP growth estimated at 2.2% (-0.9% per capita), and non-oil GDP growth at 1.3%, compared with 0.4% in 2021. Industry (mainly the oil sector) was the main contributor to growth (4.1 percentage points), followed by agriculture with a contribution of 0.6 percentage points, due to inadequate rainfall distribution and severe flooding.

The knowledge week, titled “Helping Chad become resilient to climate shocks”, aims to fuel public debate on recent economic developments and prospects for macroeconomic and social policies to promote growth and reduce poverty.

“The theme of this Knowledge Week is perfectly in line with the country engagement that aims at supporting Chad in these challenging times the country is going through. And both reports coincide with the joint efforts led by the World Bank and the government on the issues of poverty alleviation and climate change, as well as investments for inclusive growth”, explains Rasit Pertev, World Bank Country Manager for Chad.

During this event, the Bank will present two new reports:

The 2023 edition of the Chad’s Economic Update whose goal is to foster public debate on the main recent developments and prospects for macroeconomic and social policies to promote growth and reduce poverty.
The launch of the report titled ‘Boosting shared prosperity in Chad’. This report provides an up-to-date account of progress towards the World Bank Group’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity and proposes the most relevant solutions to address them. It was finalized in 2022.
Both reports highlight the dual climate and security challenges Chad is facing. “The implementation of targeted policy reforms will be essential to strengthen Chad’s capacity to adapt to floods and mitigate their impact”, says Claudia Noumedem Temgoua, World Bank Country Economist and coordinator of the “Knowledge Week”.