The Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) was established on 4 February 1998, following the Conference of Leaders and Heads of States held in Tripoli, Libya. The Community of Sahel-Saharan States CEN-SAD became a Regional Economic Community during the 36th Ordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, held in Lomé (Republic of Togo) on 4-12 July 2000. The Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) has 29 member states, making it Africa’s largest regional economic community. The regional economic community (REC) comprises 14 low-income countries, 14 lower-middle-income countries, and one upper-middle-income country.

The size of CEN-SAD’s combined economy equated to $1.6 trillion in 2019 and is expected to grow to about US$4.9 trillion by 2043, a large increase of 201.4%. Nigeria and Egypt will drive an increase of $3.27 trillion; the former is expected to see an increase of $1.4 trillion, while the latter will see a rise of $635 billion. In percentage terms, the largest increase will come from The Gambia, whose economy nearly quintuples from $2.1 billion to $10 billion in 2043. Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Eritrea, Senegal, and Guinea were all projected to see their economies grow fourfold from 2019 to 2043. Morocco and Tunisia will only grow by 65% and 64%, respectively, the smallest increases among CEN-SAD’s members.

The REC’s GDP distribution has been heavily in favor of Nigeria since 1990, when the West African country accounted for 31.5% of CEN-SAD’s combined GDP, with its share increasing to 34.6% in 2019 and potentially rising to 40.3% in 2043. Egypt is expected to remain the second-largest economy in the region, with its share dipping from 21.5% in 2019 to 20.1% in 2043. Libya is expected to see the largest decrease between 1990 and 2043, dropping from 11.7% to 3.7%.