Since 2021, the Malagasy economy has posted average growth of just over 4% a year, and has therefore been able to recover from the global recession of 2020 due to Covid-19. It is a figure that is indeed satisfactory, compared with the figures for other sub-Saharan countries.
Despite a very difficult international context, the dynamism of our key sectors has enabled us to achieve this performance. The agricultural sector, particularly agricultural production, has performed well, with an average increase of 7% in recent years. Fishing activities have also supported our economy, with increasingly significant export volumes.
In the industrial sector, the textile industry plays an important role thanks to AGOA, under which Madagascar was the second-largest exporter of clothing to the US in 2022. In addition, the country has a large reserve of strategic minerals (cobalt, nickel, graphite, etc.), in which investment has increased by up to 236% since 2021 to meet global demand, particularly for graphite, a product needed for the energy transition.
Tourism is also a key sector of our economy. We are gradually returning to the business volumes of 2019, and this year, hope to be able to reach or even exceed pre-Covid levels.
Finally, I must mention the telecommunications and digital sector in general, which has also underpinned our performance, given data consumption, which has risen considerably since 2020, following strong mobilisation around online professions and meetings. Indeed, Madagascar benefits from three high-performance submarine cables, enabling it to position itself as a hub for digital development, attracting considerable offshore activity to the area (call centres, etc.).
