African economies should grow, in average, by 3.7% in 2016 before climbing to 4.5% in 2017, as resilient private consumption and investment offsets the effect of a slump in commodity prices and global headwinds, the African Development bank (AfDB) said on May 23, 2016 in a report.

Published in the framework of the 51st annual general assembly of AfDB, the report entitled “economic outlook in Africa”, also indicates that the continent remained the world’s region with the highest growth level, behind Eastern Asia, in spite of global turmoil and regional shocks.

Also, AfDB revealed that net cash flow to Africa in 2015 reached $208 billion, down 1.8% from 2014, as investment dwindled. At $56 billion in 2015, public aid to development has increased by 4%, but remittances remain the most stable source of foreign financing and the most significant as well, at $64 billion.

Moreover, the report highlights that Africa is presently its greatest urbanization rate, associated with an unprecedented demographic growth: its urban population doubled between 1995 and 2015, where it reached 472 million people.

According to the report’s authors, this high urbanization could accelerate the continent’s economic development. If appropriate policies are implemented, the urbanization could help improve economic development through an increase in agricultural productivity, industrialization, an emerging middle class and profitable impact on services, and foreign direct investment in urban corridors, they said.