7% growth: Benin, the most dynamic economy in WAEMU in 2026

In April 2026, the International Monetary Fund raised its growth forecast for Benin from 6.7% to 7% for the current year. The revision is significant: it comes as average growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to fall, from 4.5% in 2025 to 4.3% in 2026, against an international backdrop of geopolitical tensions and rising energy prices. According to the World Bank, Benin will even record the strongest growth in the entire WAEMU zone in 2026, ahead of Côte d’Ivoire and Niger.

A gap of nearly three points above the regional average deserves a closer look, because it is explained neither by an oil windfall nor by a catch-up effect after a recession. Benin has no hydrocarbons and has not suffered a collapse to make up for. Its performance comes from elsewhere: a sustained cycle of public investment, an industrialisation that is beginning to bear fruit, and budgetary discipline that has given it access to cheaper financing.

An upward trajectory since 2021