In a recent economic prediction, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced Ghana’s economic growth from 2.8 percent in October 2022 to 1.6 percent for this month in 2023.
The IMF’s decision is in line with fears that it would be extremely difficult for the economies of most African countries to grow at their full potential this year due to debt pressure and funding constraints.
Nigeria and South Africa were both downgraded in the most recent World Economy Outlook (WEO), to 3.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, joining Ghana in this category.
At the ongoing IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., USA, on April 11, 2023, the World Economy Outlook, which is published twice a year, was made public.
Pierre Olivier Gourinc, the Economic Counselor and Director of the IMF, who also served as the presiding officer over the launch, spoke about the expansion of economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. He said that growth in the region has also been revised downward, from 3.9 percent as previously recorded to 3.6 percent.
The debt crisis, soaring inflation, declining currencies, and the food shock that affected several African nations, he continued, were major factors in the region’s lower growth.
The IMF, like the World Bank, recommended all central banks in the Sub-Sahara Region to maintain high interest rates in order to stave off inflation and spur economic growth.
The government’s target for the year, which was set at 2.8 percent in the 2023 Budget Statement published in November last year, was not met, according to Ghana’s updated growth prediction.
