Africa’s economic growth remains resilient and is projected to stay at the same pace as last year’s 4.2%.
This emerged at a meeting between African Ministers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Tuesday.
In a joint statement, Hervé Ndoba, Central African Republic’s Minister of Finance and Chair of the African Caucus, and Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said growth is supported by easing inflation, stronger macroeconomic policies, and ongoing reforms.
Debt levels have also stabilized at around 65% of GDP, and inflation is declining to an average of about 4%.
But these highs are short lived, constrained by interest payments, borrowing costs and lessening aid.
As a result, the IMF committed to adopting its lending toolkit and policy advice to its member countries. In addition, the recently approved reform of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), is now providing longer-term affordable financing to help countries address structural challenges, strengthen pandemic preparedness, and build climate resilience.
The Fund already has new commitments projected to average SDR 5.2 billion (US$7.1 billion) per year and the granting of zero-interest loans to the poorest IMF member countries.