“Financing and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from the IMF”

2023-04-17 09:23:35

Growth in sub-Saharan Africa remains weak, and is expected to slow to 3.6% in 2023, due to a “severe shortage of financing”, according to a statement from the International Monetary Fund. For the IMF, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa risk being forced to reduce the budgets devoted to essential services, such as health, education or infrastructure, which would slow down the economic development of this region.

Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director of the IMF’s African Department, spoke on this subject at a press conference on Thursday: “I think that priority is given to policies aimed at strengthening the resilience of economies. In many countries , for example, mobilizing more national revenue is a big challenge. We have to tackle this problem since it is the main challenge. Then I think it is also important to consider a policy aimed at insulating national economies from the external environment, thus adjustment of exchange rates, recalibration of interest rates and reduction of inflation will have to be considered to cope with this external environment unfavorable.”

The IMF has provided the countries concerned with around $50 billion in financing since the start of the pandemic and will continue to work with the region to put in place the right policies, adapted to the needs of each country.

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