The IMF which said this on Friday warned of risks from geopolitics, domestic instability and climate change.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that incomes of Sub-Saharan Africa countries are falling further behind the rest of the world amid a “trepid” economic recovery.
The IMF which said this on Friday warned of risks from geopolitics, domestic instability and climate change.
The international lending institution had earlier this week said that the Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy would grow 3.8% this year, up from 3.4% in 2023, as it begins to emerge from four years of shocks, from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising global interest rates.
The Fund noted that other developing countries saw real income per person more than triple since 2000, while they grew 75% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 35% in developed countries.
It however said that there were some positive developments.
The Director of the IMF’s African Department, Abebe Selassie, said in an interview with Reuters in Washington that “Two-thirds of the countries are already experiencing acceleration in growth; diversified and fairly broad-based growth.”
"Many of the more diversified economies had already enjoyed some growth recovery since the pandemic," he added.
According to the IMF, economic conditions have started to ease for many countries this year, with Ivory Coast, Benin and Kenya issuing international bonds and median inflation falling to 6% in February from almost 10% a year earlier, the IMF said.
However, political instability is rising and denting investor confidence, it said, pointing to junta-led states Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and 18 elections across the region this year.
Devastating droughts last year in the Horn of Africa and currently in southern Africa, as well as cyclones and floods, have also increased the region’s struggles.
The IMF said that South Africa is set to grow just 0.9% this year, a slight increase from 0.6% in 2023, amid ongoing rolling power cuts and problems with the country’s railways and ports, adding that “electoral uncertainties” could derail ongoing energy sector reforms.
Africa’s most industrialised economy holds an election on May 29, in which the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party could lose its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.
It was reported that West Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, is set to grow 3.3% this year, as it struggles with high inflation amid painful currency and subsidy reforms.
Meanwhile, in Niger Republic, growth is predicted to rocket from 1.4% last year to 10.4%, as oil exports ramp up.