Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic powerhouses are faltering.

While South Africa has pulled back from the brink of an electricity crisis in recent weeks as the government scrambled to keep the state utility’s creaking plants running, energy shortages continue to wreak havoc in the continent’s most industrialized economy.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg see zero growth in the second quarter, while unemployment has exceeded 30% for almost three years, one of the highest jobless rates in the world.

The economy has the potential to grow as much as 3% annually if power shortages, deficiencies in the transport system and other structural constraints are fixed, according to Max Alier, the International Monetary Fund’s representative in the country.

Steps taken by President Cyril Ramaphosa to revive output — he’s set up units within his office to cut red tape and speed up investment, and brought in top business leaders to help tackle the most pressing challenges — will likely take months, if not years, to bear fruit.

The situation in Nigeria, which has also been grappling with lackluster growth, surging inflation and rampant joblessness, may be worse than previously thought.

The nation’s net foreign reserves stand at only about $17 billion after taking the government’s obligations to JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and other creditors into account, recently released financial reports dating back eight years show. That compares with $30 billion at the end of last year.

That revelation exposes the naira (and its parallel-market rate) to even more weakness.

Nigeria’s new leader, Bola Tinubu, who took office in May, has four years to fix things. The clock is ticking for the South African leader, though, with elections in 2024.