AfDB Index: Morocco becomes Africa’s leading industrial economy

Morocco has surpassed South Africa to become the leading industrial economy on the African continent, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB) report on the 2025 Africa Industrialisation Index (AII).

This performance is driven by sustained industrial upgrading, export diversification, and a vigorous industrial policy, states the report, which was presented alongside the very first Africa Industrial Investment Barometer (AfIIB), developed by WITBA Invest SA in partnership with Trendeo, during a panel organized on the sidelines of the AfDB Annual Meetings.

The two reports offer the most detailed portrait to date of the fastest-industrializing countries, the destinations attracting investment, and the value generated that remains on the continent.

They share a common diagnosis: Africa’s industrial integration is weak. Intra-African trade accounts for only 14.4% of total trade, reflecting tenuous regional production links and fragmented industrial ecosystems.

The 2025 AII, which assessed industrial development across 54 African countries over the 2010–2024 period, notes that 41 countries improved their industrialization scores, with continental performance progressing by 6%. The most significant gains were recorded among the lowest-performing economies, signaling a trend toward convergence.

Significant gaps remain, nonetheless. Africa accounts for less than 2% of global manufacturing production and only 1.4% of manufacturing exports; additionally, the manufacturing value added per capita has fallen below pre-2014 levels.

Revealing that North Africa and Southern Africa dominate production and export sophistication, the AII calls for advancing integration beyond simple tariff reductions toward functional economic corridors, quality infrastructure, and harmonized standards, anchored in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The AfIIB, for its part, examines African industrialization through three indices: industrial diversification, attractiveness, and productive anchoring, with the latter measuring the degree to which investments are integrated locally.

North Africa leads in all three categories, capturing 56% of cumulative continental investment between 2020 and 2025, with Morocco and Egypt at the forefront.

Furthermore, both reports highlight essential levers for growth, including access to reliable and competitive energy, cross-border industrial infrastructure, long-term financing in local currencies, investment in technical skills, and the harmonization of standards.

The AfIIB also urges African industries to decarbonize immediately to avoid being structurally penalized by the carbon border adjustment mechanisms that Europe and the United States will impose over the next decade.