IMF cuts growth forecast to 3.5% for sub-Saharan Africa

Company News of Friday, April 12, 2019

Source: reuters.com

2019-04-12

The International Monetary Fund has reduced its forecast of economic growth for sub-Saharan Africa for 2019 this year to 3.5%, against 3.8% last October, in the wake of the deterioration of the World Bank early in the 1990s. week.

The new forecast reflects downward revisions for Angola and Nigeria, accompanied by a decline in oil prices, the IMF said in a report released last Tuesday.

South Africa, the most advanced economy in the region, saw its growth reduced to 1.2% due to the uncertainty of economic policy because of the upcoming elections in May.

The IMF's regional growth forecasts were more optimistic than those of the World Bank, which said Monday that the economic recovery in sub-Saharan Africa would take longer than expected and that its forecasts for 2019 were reduced to 2.8 , 3% before.

Falling commodity prices in 2015 put an end to a decade of rapid growth for the economies of the region.

While well diversified economies that do not depend on commodities such as Rwanda are still experiencing rapid economic expansion, others like Zambia have struggled to maintain their growth momentum.

Ghana and South Sudan will be the fastest growing economies this year, with growth of 8.8 percent each, the IMF said. South Sudan is emerging from several years of conflict after signing a peace agreement last year, which allowed it to start pumping crude oil.