The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) attributed the improvement to growth in the primary sector and a rebound in investment.
AfDB’s 2026 Country Focus Report: Mobilising Central African Republic’s Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World said the recovery must be consolidated to support sustainable and inclusive structural transformation.
“The economic recovery observed in 2025, with real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.3%, following 1.8% in 2024 and 0.7% in 2023, is encouraging,” CAR Minister for the Economy, Planning and International Cooperation Marc Mandaba said.
“However, this recovery remains insufficient to meet the scale of our social needs, create enough jobs and bring about a sustainable improvement in the living conditions of our people.”
The overall budget deficit narrowed to 3.5% of gross domestic product in 2025 from 5.1% in 2024. Public debt, however, increased to 59% of GDP from 58%.
The current-account deficit narrowed to 7.4% of GDP from 9%.
AfDB expects economic growth to moderate to 2.9% in 2026 before accelerating to 3.9% in 2027. Inflation is expected to remain above the regional target of 3%.
The government deficit is projected at 3.5% of GDP in 2026 before narrowing to 3% in 2027.
The outlook will depend on security, energy availability and implementation of infrastructure projects across the energy, transport and agro-industrial sectors.
CAR requires an estimated $12.8 billion to finance the 2024-2028 National Development Plan.
Mandaba said AfDB’s New Financial Architecture for African Development should help CAR mobilise domestic savings, diaspora funding, institutional investment, regional financing and private capital. “It must also enable us to make better use of guarantees, blended finance, local currency instruments and risk-sharing mechanisms to make our projects more bankable and attractive,” Mandaba said.
AfDB Country Manager Mamadou Coulibaly said CAR possessed significant potential in agriculture, natural resources and energy. “Realising these ambitions will require increased mobilisation of domestic resources, strengthened economic governance, improved efficiency in public investment and more active participation from the private sector,” Coulibaly said.
–AfDB/ChannelAfrica–
