This Regional Economic Outlook report focuses broadly on two aspects, namely the commodity price slump as well as sustainable growth and financial development. Many key insights are offered as well as broad policy recommendations. The report makes one key point – stating that global commodity prices have slumped in recent times and so developed and developing economies in the world will have to decide how to weather the price downturn. This is of particular importance for Sub- Saharan African countries, as the majority of them have traditionally been heavily dependent on commodity exports for the bulk of their foreign exchange earnings. The fact that commodity prices have fallen is undisputable. This report provides several examples to illustrate the price slump. Echoing the Outlook report, the monthly commodity price indices for four commodities for the period January 1960 to February 2016 is presented as statistics on page 3 in figure 1. It reflects similar findings as the Outlook report, highlighting that the super-cycle of high global commodity prices, which start in 2004, is now on a clear downswing. According to the detailed analysis of the Outlook report, the slump is already having adverse effects on economies in the Sub-Saharan African region.
