THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Ghana’s growth downwards in line with concerns that debt pressures and funding constraints would make it difficult for African economies to expand at full potential this year.
The fund cut the country’s growth forecast to 1.6 per cent for 2023 this month, down from 2.8 per cent in October last year.
It also cut growth for Nigeria and South Africa to 3.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively in its latest World Economy Outlook (WEO).
The WEO, which is published twice yearly, was released on April 11 at the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C.
The Economic Counselor and Director of the IMF, Pierre Olivier Gourinc, who presided over the launch, said growth in SSA had also been revised to 3.6 per cent from the earlier 3.9 per cent
Ghana’s latest growth forecast is also lower than the government’s target for the year, which was pegged at 2.8 per cent in the 2023 Budget Statement presented in November last year.
It comes at a time when the government is racing against time to secure a deal from the IMF to help stabilise the economy and reboot growth.
On the regional level, Gourinc said the debt debacle, surging inflation, falling currencies and the food shock across African countries were the key drivers of the weaker growth.
He also singled out the crumbling energy crisis in South Africa as undermining that country’s growth prospects.
Like the World Bank, the IMF urged central banks in the region to keep interest rates tight to help ward off inflation for growth to pick up.
