Morocco has overtaken South Africa as Africa’s leading industrial economy, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB)’s newly released Africa Industrialization Index 2025, marking a significant shift in the continent’s manufacturing landscape.
The report, released in May 2026, ranks Morocco as the continent’s top industrial performer over the 2010-24 period, reflecting years of investment in industrial upgrading, export diversification and targeted government policies aimed at boosting manufacturing competitiveness.
“Morocco emerges as Africa’s leading industrial economy,” the report said, highlighting the country’s success in expanding higher-value manufacturing sectors and strengthening its export base.
The finding represents a notable change in Africa’s industrial hierarchy, where South Africa has long been regarded as the continent’s manufacturing powerhouse.
While South Africa remains one of Africa’s most industrialized economies, the report notes that it has experienced a gradual decline in industrial competitiveness in recent years.
Morocco’s rise has been driven by sustained efforts to expand higher-value manufacturing and increase technological sophistication, a transformation clearly visible in its booming automotive, aerospace, and renewable energy ecosystems.
The report explicitly ranks North Africa as the continent’s most industrialized region, followed closely by Southern Africa, noting that while other sub-regions show gradual progress, major geographical disparities in manufacturing output and export competitiveness persist.
Despite progress, the African Development Bank cautioned that the continent’s broader industrial transformation remains uneven.
While 41 out of the continent’s 54 nations recorded an improvement in their industrialization scores between 2010 and 2024, manufacturing performance remains the weakest component of industrial development across much of the region.
The report argues that to accelerate industrial transformation, the continent must transition from ‘shallow’ integration centered on tariff cuts toward a ‘deep’ integration framework that resolves behind-the-border constraints under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Morocco’s ascent to the top position is likely to reinforce its ambitions to become a major manufacturing and export hub linking Europe, Africa, and global markets.
