Sub-Saharan Africa

Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa Will Slow in 2022 Due to War in Ukraine

In its latest Regional Economic Outlook, the IMF is projecting that economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa will slow from 4.5% in 2021 to 3.8% in 2021, citing the war in Ukraine and the resulting food supply strain as one of the key causes for the slowdown.

While growth is set to pick up in 2023, the IMF warned that this would not be enough to make up for the impact of the pandemic in tackling many of the regions most pressing policy challenges:

“Beside accelerating the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, immediate policy priorities include helping the most vulnerable households cope with high food and energy costs without adding to existing debt vulnerabilities, containing inflation pressures, and managing exchange rate adjustments.”

The IMF projects that the world economy will slowdown in 2022, with Sub-Saharan Africa slightly above the world average projection for 2022 and 2023.

Projections by country

IMFs projections by country show that Niger (+6.9%), South Sudan (+6.5%), the Democratic Republic of Congo (+6.4%) and Rwanda (+6.4%) looks set to record the largest growth rates in 2022.

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