The International Monetary Fund has predicted that economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa would likely slow this year to its weakest in nearly two decades.
The fund said on Tuesday in Johannesburg, South Africa during the presentation of its African Economic Outlook that this was as a result of a slump in commodity prices, the Ebola virus outbreak and drought.
It said the region would likely grow 3 per cent this year, the lowest rate since 1999, after expanding by 3.4 per cent in 2015.
It said: “Growth was seen recovering to 4 per cent next year, helped by a slight recovery in commodity prices.”
The Fund said the affected countries needed to contain fiscal deficits as the reduction in revenue from the commodities sector was expected to persist.
The report said major oil exporters Angola and Nigeria were hardest hit by the slump in commodities prices, as were Ghana, South Africa and Zambia.
The IMF added that Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone were only gradually recovering from the Ebola epidemic, while several southern and eastern African countries including Ethiopia, Malawi and Zimbabwe were suffering from a severe drought.
It said on the upside, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Senegal would see growth of more than 5 per cent, mostly “supported by ongoing infrastructure investment efforts and strong private consumption”.
The fund said decline in oil prices has also helped these countries, though the windfall has tended to be smaller than expected, as exposure to the decline in other commodity prices and currency depreciations have partly offset the gains in many of them.
Reuters/NAN.