The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today slightly improved the economic growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa by 0.1 percentage points to 3.8%, while maintaining the estimate of 4% for 2023 from the January forecast.

According to the World Economic Forecasts, released today as part of the Spring Meetings, the region's economies will grow by 3.8% this year, with Angola expanding by 3% and Equatorial Guinea by 6.1%, which thus interrupts several years of recession, although it should return to negative growth next year.

According to the document quoted by Lusa, Nigeria, the region's largest economy, is expected to register an economic expansion of 3.4% and 3.1% this year and next, which represents an improvement of 0.7 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively, compared to the January update of the World Economic Forecast released in October last year.

"In sub-Saharan Africa, higher food prices will hurt consumers' purchasing power, especially among lower-income households, which will negatively influence domestic demand; social and political unrest, especially in West Africa, also influences the outlook" for the region's economies, reads the document released today.

According to the source oil, which has been above $100, is a positive for major oil exporters in the region, such as Nigeria and Lusophone Angola and Equatorial Guinea, which together are expected to grow by 3.4% and 3.1% in 2022 and 2023.

The report released today does not present forecasts for all African economies, whose regional analysis will only be available next week when the Economic Forecasts for Sub-Saharan Africa report is released.

Source: Lusa