THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its 2017 Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook, predicting a 2.6 per cent growth.
The Head of the African Region, Mr. Abebe Selassie, who presented in Abuja, yesterday, urged strong policy decisions by leaders on the continent with a view to changing the dwindling economic fortunes of the region.
He identified a strong macroeconomic stability, tackling of structural weaknesses; and strengthening of social protection for the vulnerable as three key immediate measures towards a robust economic growth in Africa.
According to the director, who spoke on the theme: “Restarting the Growth Engine”, he said, “Sub-Saharan Africa remains a region with tremendous potential for growth in the medium term, but with limited support expected from the external environment, strong and sound domestic policy measures are urgently needed to reap this potential.
“The priority should be to put renewed focus on macroeconomic stability in order to set the stage for a growth turnaround. For the hardest-hit countries, fiscal consolidation remains urgently needed to halt the decline in international reserves and offset budgetary revenue losses.
“In addition, where available, greater exchange rate flexibility and the elimination of exchange restrictions will be important to absorb part of the shock.
“Meanwhile, for countries where growth is still strong, it will be important to address emerging vulnerabilities from a position of strength.
“The second priority is to address structural weaknesses to support macroeconomic rebalancing. Structural measures are needed to ensure a sustainable fiscal position and help achieve more durable growth by improving tax collection, strengthening financial supervision, and addressing longstanding weaknesses in business climate that impede economic diversification.
“Finally, the third priority should be to strengthen social protection for the most vulnerable people. The current environment of low growth and widening macroeconomic imbalances risks reversing recent progress made in alleviating poverty. Existing social protections programs are often fragmented, not well-targeted, and cover a small share of the population. The report suggests savings from expansive and untargeted schemes such as fuel subsidies could be put towards helping vulnerable groups.”
The outlook indicated that while some countries like Senegal and Kenya continue to experience growth rates higher than 6 percent, growth has slowed for two thirds of countries in the region bringing down average growth to 1.4 percent in 2016.
It indicated that in spite the predicted 2.6 percent 2017 growth rate “underlying regional momentum remains weak, and at this rate, sub-Saharan African growth will continue to fall well short of past trends of 5-6 percent, and barely exceed population growth.”
