Gabon is the sub-Saharan African country with the highest potential in the retail sector, according to the African Retail Development Index (ARDI) 2015 published on 8^th September by the strategy consultancy firm A.T. Kearney.

This ranking is based on many criteria such as country-risk, size of the urban population, business environment and saturation level of the market. Gabon should register an economic growth of 5.5% in 2016, against an average of 5.1% for sub-Saharan Africa, based on forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Other assets: about 86% of the population of this central African country lives in cities while the middle class is stable, according to experts from the A.T. Kearney firm.

Botswana comes in 2^nd place in the ARDI index which assessed the potential of retail markets in 48 sub-Saharan countries.

Angola holds the 3^rd rank, in front of Nigeria, the first African economy and the most populated country on the continent.

Tanzania is 5^th in the ARDI index ranking. It is followed by South Africa, Rwanda, Namibia, Ghana, Senegal, the Gambia, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Mozambique.