IMF publishes the April 2019 edition of the World Economic Outlook Report

The World Economic Outlook Report is a periodic survey made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), usually twice a year, which contains a detailed analysis of the world economy, highlighting the main issues affecting industrial countries, developing countries, and economies in transition to market. The publication also addresses topics of pressing current interest (like for instance the consequences of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union).

In particular, while the IMF concludes with negative projections of growth in advanced economies (a progressive slowdown is estimated from 2018 to 2020), in sub-Saharan Africa forecasts are quite optimistic, with an estimated growth which is expected to raise to 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.7 percent in 2020 (from 3.0 percent in 2018), despite the downward revision of such projections compared with the October 2018 WEO forecasts, as a consequence of factors like the softening of oil prices (which will affect the economies of countries like Angola and Nigeria) or the policy uncertainty related to elections (like in South Africa).

In sub-Saharian Africa, the countries with the highest GDP estimates in 2019 are: Ghana (8.8%), Ethiopia (7.7%) and Cote d’Ivoire (7.5%). In Kenya the real GDD rate is projected to decline from 6.0% of 2018 to 5.8% in 2019 and raise again to 5.9% in 2020.