Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow 3.3% this year, accelerating to 3.5% by 2019
By Respect Gwenzi, Jan 24, 2018
Economic growth has recovered in sub-Saharan Africa “from 2.7 percent in 2017 to 3.3 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019”. The IMF considers that Brazil will grow 1.9 percent this year.
The economies of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to grow 3.3 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2019, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) “Global Economic Outlook” forecasts released in Washington on Monday.
“Growth in sub-Saharan Africa has recovered from 2.7 percent in 2017 to 3.3 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019, as was generally anticipated in the fall,” IMF analysts write in the forecasts.
“There has been a modest upward revision for Nigeria, but growth is expected to be somewhat lower in South Africa, falling below 1 percent in 2018 and 2019 due to heightened political uncertainty and its impact on confidence and investment,” the experts add.
The IMF revised its forecast for sub-Saharan Africa down by 0.1 percentage point this year and increased its forecast for next year by 0.1 percentage points, giving no explanation in the report for the slight change.
The IMF considers that Brazil, the only Lusophone country for which there are specific statistics, will grow at least 1.9 percent this year and 2.1 percent in 2019, which represents an upward revision of 0.4 percentage points for this year and 0.1 points for the next.-Lusa

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