The deputy executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said on Saturday that Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau are among the ten poorest countries in Africa, drawing attention to the deterioration of the continent's economy.

"Today, 546 million people are living in poverty, which is an increase of 74% compared to 1990," said Hanan Morsy at the end of the 55th conference of African ministers of finance, planning and economic development, which took place this week in Addis Ababa, and in which he said that Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau are on the list of ten countries where between 60 and 82% of the population is poor, without giving further figures.

"Global shocks have a cascading effect on the poorest in Africa through inflation which, in 2022, stood at 12.3%, which is much higher than the 6.7% recorded worldwide," added the economist.

According to UNECA estimates, African families spend up to 40% of their household income on food, so the impact of rising food prices has a "more severe effect in Africa, especially on the poorest," he said.

African countries' heavy dependence on imports has made the continent vulnerable to external shocks, the ministers stressed, according to the conference's final communiqué, which states that 39 of the region's 54 countries are net importers of food products and that, in 2021, the continent exported only 5.7 billion dollars (5.3 billion euros) of refined oil and imported 44 billion dollars (almost 41 billion euros), despite producing more than it consumes.

The difficulties resulting from the food and energy crises are also compounded by the lack of budgetary space to implement measures that could speed up the recovery of the continent's economy, which is expected to grow by less than 4% this year, below population growth.

"Getting out of low levels of income and wealth is being made even more difficult by the challenges of climate change, as seen recently in the floods in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique," reads the statement, which also laments the public debt crisis in this Lusophone country, which "could undermine all the growth of the last 23 years."

Experts and ministers warned that African countries continue to face falling revenues, rising public debt and shrinking fiscal space, with the debt ratio rising from 57.1% in 2019 to 64.5% last year.

The theme of the conference of African ministers was 'Empowering Africa's Recovery and Transformation to Reduce Inequalities and Vulnerabilities'. (Lusa)