Top 10 African countries with the worst inflation from the COVID year to 2025

While some African nations have managed to contain inflation through stricter monetary policies and stable currency rates, others continue to face runaway prices caused by weak currencies, debt loads, supply chain disruptions, and a reliance on imported products.

In nations where inflation continues stubbornly high, the implications are not only economic, but also severely personal.

Inflation reduces purchasing power, particularly among low- and middle-income households, making basic needs such as food, transportation, and healthcare more expensive.

Even little price increases might push vulnerable households into poverty or hunger in nations where salaries haven’t kept up with inflation.

When the cost of living rises, entire economies become destabilized, markets lose confidence, and investors flee.

Monetary policymakers face an impossible balancing act between promoting economic growth and limiting inflation.

Persistent inflation further hampers development planning.

Budgets become unstable, infrastructure projects stop, and governments are compelled to shift expenditure away from long-term aims and toward short-term subsidies and emergency measures.

Many African youth, who are already unemployed, regard excessive inflation as a sign that their country is headed for trouble.

Top 10 African countries with the worst inflation from the COVID year to 2025

Rank	Country	Inflation 2025	Inflation 2020	Differential
1.	South Sudan	65.7%	24.0%	41.7%
2.	Burundi	39.1%	7.5%	31.6%
3.	Malawi	24.2%	8.6%	15.6%
4.	Egypt	19.7%	5.7%	14.0%
5.	Nigeria	26.5%	13.2%	13.3%
6.	Ghana	17.2%	7.3%	7.3%
7.	Madagascar	8.4%	4.2%	4.2%
8.	Mozambique	4.9%	0.9%	4.0%
9.	The Gambia	9.3%	5.9%	3.4%
10.	Botswana	4.5%	1.9%	2.6%