Benin

Benin closed 2024 with real GDP growth of roughly 7.5%, its fastest expansion since 1990, and carried that momentum into 2025 with output running near 8% over the first three quarters. Inflation held at 1.1% in 2025, comfortably inside the BCEAO's 1–3% target band, while public debt eased from 53.6% of GDP in 2024 toward a projected 51% by 2026, below the WAEMU's 70% convergence ceiling. In January 2025 Benin became the first African sovereign to tap international markets that year, raising about $1bn, and S&P reaffirmed its 'BB-/B' rating with a positive outlook.

Benin's distinctiveness is its deliberate move up the value chain. The Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ), a 1,640-hectare public-private platform with ARISE IIP, is converting the country from a raw-cotton and cashew exporter into a processor: by 2025 some 400 hectares were occupied by dozens of investors and a growing cluster of textile, garment and cashew factories. With agriculture at roughly 30% of GDP and industry near 20%, GDIZ-anchored manufacturing plus modernization of the Port of Cotonou positions Benin as a credible WAEMU light-manufacturing and logistics hub.

The defining risk is concentration and exposure to its neighborhood. Growth leans heavily on cotton, cashew and a still-young industrial zone whose export thesis remains to be proven at scale, while the porous northern border with Sahelian states under jihadist pressure has brought spillover insecurity. Fiscal consolidation tied to IMF programs (an ECF and RSF maturing in January 2026) leaves limited room if commodity prices or security conditions deteriorate.