IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook : Sub-Saharan Africa To Experience More Growth

Average growth rate in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase from 3 per cent in 2018 to 3.5 per cent in 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted in its April 2019 Regional Economic Outlook report. Despite a less supportive external environment, the growth rate is expected to further surge to 3.7 per cent in 2020, about ¼ percentage point less than envisaged in the 2018 World Economic Outlook. In the figures, the IMF says there are substantial differences between resource-intensive and non-resource-intensive countries, with non-intensive-resource countries like Ethiopia rapidly growing at about 6.3 per cent on average in 2019-20.

The biannual report – ‘Sub-Saharan Africa: Recovery Amid Elevated Uncertainty’ – which reviews development in sub-Saharan Africa, was presented to the public in Yaounde, Friday May 3. On hand were the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Alamine Ousmane Mey, the IMF Head of Mission to Cameroon, Corinne Deléchat, amongst other personalities.

The report shows that some 21 countries with diversified economies are expected to sustain growth rate at 5 per cent or more and remain on the impressive per capita convergence path they have been on since the early 2000s. But in the 24 other more resource-dependent economies, including the largest – Nigeria and South Africa, growth looks set to remain anemic in the near term. 

Average inflation in the region is expected to decline to 8.1 per cent in 2019 from 8.5 in 2018, thanks to the large decline in global energy prices. Meanwhile, the (simple) average current account deficit is projected...