Africa and Latin America is the smallest IsDB’s operational region by population, which is 6.3 percent of the world population. However, it has the fastest annual average growth rate of 2.8 percent, compared to the other regions. This Region covers Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, and Mozambique, Somalia, Suriname and Guyana.   

This Region’s economy heavily depends on oil-export. The SSA region has countries with the lowest per capita income of the three regions. In the Region Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon and Nigeria are considered middle-income countries, the rest being low-income countries. 

Despite the significant progress in poverty reduction since 2000, the region SSA remains under the shadow of poverty. The region faces an enormous infrastructure gap, debt sustainability issues and investment climate and regulatory environment are relatively poor. The region still lacks strong governance and institutional capacity. 

Five of the IsDB MCs from SSA are among the 16 countries with ‘alarming’ situations of hunger issues. Consequently, the region’s short-term challenges include sustaining growth momentum and strengthening fiscal stability, achieving food security, developing the agricultural sector and tackling youth unemployment. Medium-to-longer term challenges include the development of human capital as well as infrastructure.

The Bank has two member countries from Latin America namely Suriname and Guyana.