All Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) will see their economies grow again this year, with the exception of Angola, which remains in recession, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to the World Economic Forecasts, released Tuesday as part of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings taking place this week, Angola's negative growth, estimated at 0.71 Q2T this year, is the only contraction in the Lusophone economies, which will grow by an average of 2.51 Q2T.

Equatorial Guinea, with 4.1%, is the Lusophone economy that will record the sharpest recovery, even though the IMF estimates that in 2022 it will return to contractions, while Cape Verde, with a growth of 4%, is the one that comes out best from last year's historical drop of almost 15%, due to the effects of the pandemic.

Guinea-Bissau, with 3.3%, Mozambique, which will grow 2.5%, and São Tomé and Príncipe, with 2.1%, complete the range of Lusophone economies in recovery, the latter being the only one that managed to maintain growth during the pandemic.

The IMF says that São Tomé and Príncipe grew by 3% last year, unlike all Lusophone economies, and estimates expansion of 2.1% and 2.9% for this and next year.

Sub-Saharan Africa saw its growth estimate improved by 0.3 points this year and also worsened by 0.3 points from the July forecast update, meaning that the recovery will be slower than initially forecast.

If forecasts are confirmed, this region that encompasses most of the Lusophone countries is expected to accelerate in 2022 from the growth of 2019, a year in which it experienced a 3.1% expansion, followed by a ,17% recession last year because of the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.

The IMF this Tuesday revised downwards its forecast for world economic growth in 2021 by a tenth, to 5.91 QoT, from 6.01 QoT in July.

For 2022, the July forecast is unchanged, but compared to the April forecast it represents an increase of 0.9 percentage points (0.1 for 2021).

"The global recovery continues, but momentum has weakened, crippled by the pandemic. Fueled by the Delta variant, the number of recorded covid-19 deaths has grown by nearly five million and health risks abound, holding back a full return to normalcy," reads the text of the World Economic Forecast, released Tuesday.

Lusa Agency