<p>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday approved a three-year, $157.6 million credit facility for Burkina Faso, in part to help boost security after a spate of attacks by Islamist insurgents.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-286397 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/IMF-Flickr.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="547" /></p>
<p class="">Jihadists linked to al Qaeda killed eight people during an attack on the French embassy and the army headquarters in the capital Ouagadougou this month, the third major attack there in just over two years. [nL2N1QP0CA]</p>
<p class="">“Burkina Faso faces significant development challenges, which have intensified in the recent period due to security shocks and social unrest,” said IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa in a statement.</p>
<p class="">The agricultural economy is expected to grow 6 percent this year, down from 6.5 percent in 2017, but above the 5.9 percent in 2016, the IMF said, driven by cotton production and mining.</p>
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<p class="content_27_rw">Reporting by Edward McAllister; Editing by Mark Potter</p>
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IMF approves $158MN credit to Burkina Faso

<p>The International Monetary Fund has approved a request by Kenya to extend by six months a stand-by agreement that was due to expire at the end of March, giving it time to finish mandatory reviews, the IMF said in a statement.</p>
<div id="attachment_128145" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-128145" class="wp-image-128145 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/HQ-IMF-Wiki.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="395" /><p id="caption-attachment-128145" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikimedia</p></div>
<p class="">The stand-by agreement, which was approved in March 2016, was for $989.8 million, alongside a stand-by credit facility of about $494.9 million.</p>
<p class="">“On March 12, 2018, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund approved Kenyan authorities’ request for a six-month extension of the country’s Stand-By Arrangement to allow additional time to complete the outstanding reviews,” the IMF said in a statement late on Tuesday.</p>
<p class="">Last week the IMF said that stand-by credit facility arrangements cannot be extended beyond 24 months.</p>
<p class="">It said the reviews were expected to be completed by September, allowing access to the funds available in the stand-by agreement.</p>
<p class="">“In support of this request, the authorities have committed to policies that will enable them to achieve the program objectives, including reducing the fiscal deficit and substantially modifying interest controls,” IMF said.</p>
<p class="">The government adopted a cap on commercial lending rates in September 2016, setting it at 4 percentage points above the central bank’s benchmark rate, to limit the cost of borrowing from commercial banks. It said lenders had failed to pass on the benefits of growth in the industry to consumers.</p>
<p class="">Earlier this month, the Finance Minister Henry Rotich said it was a good time to revisit the cap, while the chair of the parliament’s influential budget committee has also said there was a case for altering it.</p>
<p class="">The IMF said last month that Kenya had lost access to the funds meant to cushion it against unforeseen external shocks last June, due to failure to complete a review of the programme.</p>
<p class="">Kenya asked the IMF for the extension last week.</p>
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<p class="content_27_rw">Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Eric Meijer</p>
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IMF approves Kenya’s request to extend stand-by agreement by 6 months

<p>The International Monetary Fund is confident Ghana will implement outstanding measures needed for a successful review of its $918 million aid programme next month, the Fund’s Ghana chief said on Monday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-43288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/imf-headquarters.jpg" alt="Low oil out impacts Angola’s economic growth" width="600" height="340" /></p>
<p class="">The major commodities exporter is in the final year of the programme, signed in April 2015 to restore stability to an economy dogged by deficits, public debt and low growth with inflation consistently above target.</p>
<p class="">A confidential document seen by Reuters on Friday said the IMF wants Ghana to adopt new measures to boost revenues, slow the pace of borrowing and outline plans to clean up the financial sector.</p>
<p class="">“The ongoing macroeconomic stabilization is an opportunity to reduce the cost of debt, by reducing risk premia and refinancing it on more favourable terms, including by issuing a Eurobond,” Natalia Koliadina told reporters on Monday.</p>
<p class="">Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said last week the government planned to issue up to $2 billion of sovereign issuance by June to pay down debt that hit 68.7 percent of GDP last November and help finance the 2018 budget.</p>
<p class="">Koliadina said an IMF staff mission which left Accra on Thursday discussed options for revenue mobilization with the authorities, including by broadening the tax base and rationalising tax incentives.</p>
<p class="">The Fund expects the central bank to continue its disinflation policy to support exchange rate stability, she said. “This requires the Bank of Ghana to maintain focus on price stability.”</p>
<p class="">Koliadina said IMF staff expect to finalise discussions on the remaining issues to allow Ghana proceed with the proposed IMF board review in April.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Hugh Lawson</p>
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IMF says confident Ghana will meet April review requirements

<p>Nigeria’s people are getting poorer despite the country’s slow recovery from recession, and economic reforms are urgently needed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.</p>
<div id="attachment_300611" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-300611" class="wp-image-300611 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Nigeria-Slums_Broad_St_Lagos_Wikipedia.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536" /><p id="caption-attachment-300611" class="wp-caption-text">Nigeria Slums_Lagos. Photo: Wikipedia</p></div>
<p class="">The Fund expects the government to “muddle through” in the medium term, and any progress could also be threatened if elections next year consume political energy and resources, the report said.</p>
<p class="">Since emerging from recession in the second quarter of 2017, Nigerian officials have repeatedly boasted that they have set the economy back on track.</p>
<p class="">But critics say much of the recovery comes from a return to oil dependence after a rise in global oil prices and a rebound in crude production &#8211; more the result of militants in the Niger Delta halting attacks on oil facilities than of economic policy under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.</p>
<p class="">The IMF said in the report that the outlook for growth has improved but remains challenging.</p>
<p class="">“Comprehensive and coherent” economic policies “remain urgent and must not be delayed by approaching elections and recovering oil prices,” it said in its annual Article IV review of Nigeria’s economy.</p>
<p class="">“Higher oil prices would support a recovery in 2018 but a ‘muddle-through’ outlook is projected for the medium term under current policies, with fiscal dominance and structural constraints leading to continuing falls in real GDP per capita,” the IMF said.</p>
<p class="">In the report, it identified risks to growth including additional delays to implementing policies and reforms ahead of 2019 elections, security tensions, and oil prices, a fall in which could see capital flows reversed.</p>
<p class="">“Further delays in policy action &#8212; including because of pre-election pressures &#8212; can only make the inevitable adjustment more difficult and costlier,” the report said.</p>
<h3>EXCHANGE RATE CONFUSION</h3>
<p class="">The lender repeated its call for Nigeria to simplify its complex foreign exchange system, a bugbear for the IMF for more than a year which has left large gaps between official rates and various windows that certain groups can use to get other rates.</p>
<p class="">“Moving towards a unified exchange rate should be pursued as soon as possible,” the IMF said. “(IMF) staff does not support the exchange measures that have given rise to the exchange restrictions and multiple currency practices.”</p>
<p class="">The Fund further singled out the central bank, saying it should discontinue direct interventions in the economy.</p>
<p class="">The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) frequently injects hundreds of millions of dollars into the foreign exchange market to keep its own rates stable.</p>
<div></div>
<p class="">Commercial banks struggling to remain solvent were also called out, but not identified by the IMF, including one that the lender said was already insolvent: “Some of these banks are kept afloat through continuous recourse to the CBN’s lending facilities.”</p>
<p class="">The IMF said it does not comment on purported leaks. A spokeswoman for the Fund said a statement would be issued after the lender’s board meets to discuss its assessment on Friday.</p>
<p class="">A Nigerian finance ministry spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a phone call and email requesting comment.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Catherine Evans and Hugh Lawson</p>
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Nigeria’s people getting poorer, government to ‘muddle through: IMF

<p>Kenya’s $1.5 bln standby credit facility remains in place until the end of March 2018, but the country cannot access it because conditions have not been met, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, clarifying comments given a day earlier.</p>
<div id="attachment_128139" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-128139" class="wp-image-128139 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/IMF-Flickr.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="547" /><p id="caption-attachment-128139" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Flickr.</p></div>
<p class="">“The precautionary&#8230; arrangement remains in place until end-March 2018,” the IMF said in a statement.</p>
<p class="">“Kenya continues to have access to resources since June subject to policy understandings to complete the outstanding reviews.”</p>
<p class="">On Tuesday, Jan Mikkelsen, IMF representative in Kenya, told Reuters that access to the two-year precautionary facility was lost in June because a review had not been completed due to Kenya’s extended election season.</p>
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<p class="">The two-year precautionary facility, set to expire next month, was put in place in case of unforeseen external shocks that could put pressure on Kenya’s balance of payments.</p>
<p class="">The East African economy has not tapped the facility, which was preceded by a smaller standby one-year credit line in 2015, as foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank have soared to record highs.</p>
<h3>CONCERNS OVER DEBT</h3>
<p class="">“The facility is in place but permission to access it has been withdrawn,” said Kenyan economist Anzetse Were. “This comes at a bad time&#8230; we’ve seen Moody’s downgrade us to B2 from B1, and this is particularly important in the context of Kenya trying to raise a Eurobond.”</p>
<p class="">Senior government officials have just finished a marketing roadshow abroad, and they plan to issue dollar-denominated notes for a minimum of $1.5 billion soon.</p>
<p class="">The IMF has expressed concern over the fiscal deficit, but government officials have said borrowing is necessary to fund the government’s ambitious infrastructure plans, which were a key plank of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s successful re-election campaign.</p>
<p class="">Kenya’s total debt has risen to about 50 percent of GDP, from 42 percent in 2013, as it borrowed locally and abroad to build infrastructure like a new railway line from Nairobi to the port of Mombasa.</p>
<p class="">When Kenya secured the precautionary facility, IMF officials said it was recognition of the country’s stable economic fundamentals, as that type of facility is usually reserved for more developed emerging economies.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore</p>
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Kenya’s $1.5BN standby credit in place, but not accessible: IMF

<p>The International Monetary Fund cut South Africa’s economic growth forecast for the next two years on Monday, citing rising political uncertainty that has dented investor confidence.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-43288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/imf-headquarters.jpg" alt="Low oil out impacts Angola’s economic growth" width="600" height="340" /></p>
<p>The IMF said in its World Economic Outlook that more subdued growth prospects were projected in South Africa, “where growth is now expected to remain below 1 percent in 2018–19, as increased political uncertainty weighs on confidence and investment.”</p>
<p>The fund said it expected South Africa’s economy to grow by 0.9 percent this year, down from an earlier projection of 1.1 percent given in October. Economic growth was seen at 0.9 percent in 2019 from 1.6 percent earlier.</p>
<p>Corruption allegations under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma have hurt investor confidence in South Africa, with economic growth slowing to a near-standstill in recent years.</p>
<p>But markets have rallied since Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s election as the ruling African National Congress (ANC) leader in December, as investors have warmed to his promises to root out corruption and kick-start economic growth.</p>
<p>Ramaphosa is likely to become South Africa’s next president after elections in 2019, because of the ANC’s electoral dominance.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Toby Chopra</p>
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IMF cuts South Africa’s growth forecast for next two years

<p data-reactid="32">Central Africa’s CEMAC bloc is expected by the International Monetary Fund to have suffered a 0.6 percent economic contraction in 2017, an improvement on last year’s 1 percent but well below an earlier forecast of 0.7 percent growth.</p>
<p data-reactid="32"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-43288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/imf-headquarters.jpg" alt="Low oil out impacts Angola’s economic growth" width="600" height="340" /></p>
<p data-reactid="33">The oil-producing zone &#8212; comprising Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Congo Republic and Central African Republic &#8212; has been hit by a slump in crude prices since 2014 and by cutbacks in public spending.</p>
<p data-reactid="34">The IMF said in a statement late on Monday that it had revised up the public debt-to-GDP ratio for the region to over 50 percent as of the end of 2016. The ratio stood at 28 percent at the end of 2014.</p>
<p data-reactid="35">Several CEMAC countries receive financial assistance from the IMF, and Congo Republic is currently in negotiations for a bailout after its public or publicly guaranteed debt spiked this year to 110 percent of GDP.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="37">Reporting by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Aaron Ross/Jeremy Gaunt</p>
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Central African economies contracted this year, but by less than before -IMF

<p><em>Danny Bradlow | University of Pretoria</em></p>
<p>Prudence teaches that societies experiencing difficult and uncertain times should hope for the best but prepare for the worst.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-43627 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/christine_lagarde_-_wikimedia.jpg" alt="IMF MD Lagarde to face trial" width="1500" height="1024" /></p>
<p>South Africa should take this lesson seriously. It is facing a serious crisis. South Africa’s economy is growing too slowly to address its profound challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Social tensions are rising. Business is not transforming quickly enough. The governance and solvency of key state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are collapsing. Government finances are deteriorating. Credit downgrades may limit government access to finance. The institutions of governance are decaying. The complex political situation is paralysing policymaking.</p>
<p>Countries facing analogous crises of confidence like Nigeria, Poland and Turkey have had to seek IMF support.</p>
<p>South Africa can hope that the situation will improve. But it should also plan for the possibility that it will not and that confidence in the government’s ability to manage its deteriorating financial situation will evaporate. This will lead to both higher borrowing costs and reduced access to financing for the government and state owned enterprises. It could also lead to state owned enterprises defaulting on their debts and their creditors calling in their government guarantees. As government loses the ability to fund its operations, it will be forced to turn to the IMF. It is the one organisation that can help it regain access to financing – on condition that South Africa agrees to implement an IMF approved set of reforms.</p>
<p>No-one wants an IMF programme for South Africa. First, it means the government accepting an outsider, dominated by rich countries, overseeing its economic policies. Second, IMF support will be conditioned on the country agreeing to painful reforms such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>Reducing the government’s budget deficit and the current account deficit so that it can meet its financial obligations</li>
<li>Deregulation and labour market reforms designed to encourage investment.</li>
</ul>
<p>But if South Africa begins preparing for this possibility it may be able to mitigate its worst effects and be ready to exploit whatever opportunities it creates.</p>
<h2>Negotiating with the IMF</h2>
<p>The South African government has considerable experience dealing with the IMF, which regularly visits each of its member states to consult about the state of its economy— the most recent IMF mission visited South Africa in early November. However, it is over 20 years since South Africa negotiated a financing arrangement with the IMF.</p>
<p>Unless challenged, the IMF is likely to condition its financial support on a standard recipe of reforms. However, over time the IMF has become more amenable to supporting the programmes proposed by its member states. It has learned that, while there are similarities between macro-economic crises in different countries, there is more than one strategy for resolving such crises. In fact, the optimal solution depends on each country’s institutional arrangements, history, and particular economic, social, environmental and political characteristics. It also depends on the impact of macro-economic policies on such social factors as gender, equity and environmental and social sustainability.</p>
<p>Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister, reports in his book on his experiences negotiating with Greece’s creditors that countries like Poland, through careful planning and shrewd negotiations, were able to convince the IMF to follow their plan rather than the IMF’s standard approach. His book also shows that the cost of failing to prepare adequately for negotiations like these can be very high indeed.</p>
<p>So what should South Africa do to ensure that it gets the best possible deal?</p>
<p>First, South Africa must establish clear and realistic objectives for the plan that it wants the IMF to support. Second, it must get its diplomatic ducks in a row so that it can strike the best possible deal.</p>
<h2>Fixing the budget</h2>
<p>As a priority South Africa should focus on restoring a sustainable budget situation. This will require government to make some painful policy choices about levels of expenditures as well as the purposes for which funds are allocated.</p>
<p>The government can build confidence in these choices if it can show that:</p>
<ul>
<li>the benefits exceed the costs and that the costs are being equitably shared.</li>
<li>Policy choices are based on both the human rights imperatives stipulated in the South African Constitution and on promoting growth.</li>
<li>it’s serious about addressing the governance problems in state owned enterprises and government departments.</li>
<li>it is complying with the legal procedures applicable to government finances and the open budgeting processes that it used in the past.</li>
</ul>
<p>Finally, government must encourage other social actors – such as business and labour who have contributed to the crisis – to help mitigate the pain. A demonstration of broad support would help convince the IMF to support the government’s strategy.</p>
<h2>Diplomacy</h2>
<p>As Varoufakis’ experience shows, the cost of under-estimating the impact of international economic diplomacy on the outcomes of complex international financial negotiations can be unacceptably high.</p>
<p>The South African government must therefore prepare to sell its programme to the IMF. This requires it to appoint negotiators who have a good understanding of both the IMF as an institution and global financial diplomacy. They can make the South African case in the way that is most likely to convince the IMF staff and Board of Executive Directors to support the South African programme.</p>
<p>These negotiators should also seek to exploit all the benefits that South Africa can harvest from its membership in the institutions of global economic governance. For example, they can tap the experience and expertise of groups like the G24, a lobby group for the interests of IMF developing member states in which South Africa participates, to help it prepare for these negotiations.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87777/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />They can also draw on the stores of information in international organisations like the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank that have had extensive experience dealing with developing countries facing macro-economic crises. Access to this information should be a benefit of membership. The executive directors that represent South Africa at these institutions can help the government gain access to this information and, if appropriate, identify the relevant experts to consult.</p>
<p>This article was originally published on The Conversation.</p>


South Africa should prepare for the worst case scenario: seeking help from the IMF

<p data-reactid="32">Burundi’s inflation accelerated to 17.6 percent year-on-year in October from 15.2 percent in September due to rising food costs on local markets, official figures showed on Monday.</p>
<p data-reactid="32"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-292517 size-full alignleft" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Burundi-CIA_WFB_Map.png" alt="" width="330" height="332" /></p>
<p data-reactid="33">Food inflation jumped to 28.0 percent in the year to October from 23.9 percent in September, the Institute of Economic Studies and Statistics (ISTEEBU) said in its monthly report.</p>
<p data-reactid="34">The tiny East African nation whose economy relies mostly on coffee and tea exports has been hurt by a political crisis for more than two years.</p>
<p data-reactid="35">Aid-dependent Burundi is under economic pressure after some of its key donors such as the European Union suspended direct financial support to the government, over accusations of human rights violations, which Burundi denies.</p>
<p data-reactid="36">The International Monetary Fund predicts that the coffee producing country will have zero economic growth this year after the economy shrank in 2016.</p>
<p data-reactid="37">More than 700 people have been killed and 400,000 have fled to neighbouring countries during the crisis, triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="39">Editing by George Obulutsa and Peter Graff</p>
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Burundi’s inflation rises to 17.6% yr/yr in October

<p>Zimbabwe’s economic growth is threatened by high government spending, an untenable foreign exchange regime and inadequate reforms, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-43288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/imf-headquarters.jpg" alt="Low oil out impacts Angola’s economic growth" width="600" height="340" /></p>
<p data-reactid="41">Zimbabwe was once one of Africa’s most promising economies but suffered decades of decline as former President Robert Mugabe pursued policies that included the violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms and money-printing that led to hyperinflation.</p>
<p>Mugabe, 93, resigned on Tuesday after nearly four decades in power following pressure from the military, the ruling ZANU-PF party and the general population.</p>
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<p data-reactid="43">New ZANU-PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to be sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president on Friday.</p>
<p data-reactid="44">Zimbabwe has not been able to borrow from international lenders since 1999 when it started defaulting on its debt, and has $1.75 billion rand in foreign arrears.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">“The economic situation in Zimbabwe remains very difficult,” Gene Leon, IMF’s mission chief for Zimbabwe said in a statement to Reuters late on Wednesday.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">“Immediate action is critical to reduce the deficit to a sustainable level, accelerate structural reforms, and re-engage with the international community to access much needed financial support.”</p>
<p data-reactid="47">Leon said Zimbabwe should resolve arrears to the World Bank, African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, among other reforms, for the IMF to consider future financing request from the country.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe should also be ready to implement strong macroeconomic policies and structural reforms to restore fiscal and debt sustainability, Leon said.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="49">Reporting by David Lawder in Washington and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo in Johannesburg; Editing by James Macharia</p>
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Zimbabwe’s economic situation “very difficult”: IMF mission chief

<p data-reactid="32">The Angolan economy is set to grow 1.1 percent this year as sub-Saharan Africa’s third largest economy enjoys a mild recovery, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday following a 10-day visit to the country.</p>
<p data-reactid="32"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-43288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/imf-headquarters.jpg" alt="Low oil out impacts Angola’s economic growth" width="600" height="340" /></p>
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<p data-reactid="40">But Ricardo Velloso, the Brazilian economist who led the visit, said macroeconomic imbalances remain that need to be tackled by the new government.</p>
<p data-reactid="41">In a statement, he highlighted the wide spread between the parallel and official market exchange rates and a backlog of foreign exchange purchase requests in commercial banks as points of continuing concern.</p>
<p data-reactid="42">Velloso said the team met members of the new government which it felt understood the challenges facing the economy, and gave a thumbs up to the administration’s six-month economic plan known as “Plano Intercalar.”</p>
<p data-reactid="43">“The Plano Intercalar is adequately focused on the goals of stepping up fiscal consolidation efforts, introducing greater exchange rate flexibility, and improving governance and the business climate to promote faster and inclusive growth as well as economic diversification,” the statement said.</p>
<p data-reactid="44">After nearly a decade of rapid growth, Angola slipped into recession last year as a fall in the price of oil led to a massive drop in government revenue and access to hard currency.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">The official unemployment rate is at 25 percent, though likely in reality much higher, and a dollar fetches more than double the official rate on the black market.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">President Joao Lourenco, who took office in September, has vowed to get the economy back on track promising to diversify away from oil and combat corruption.</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="47">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="48">Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer, Editing by William Maclean</p>
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Angola in “mild recovery” but macroeconomic challenges remain:IMF

<p>The International Monetary Fund issued a revised forecast for Rwanda’s gross domestic product this year, lowering its projected growth from 6.2 percent to 5.2 percent.</p>
<div id="attachment_128145" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-128145" class="wp-image-128145 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/HQ-IMF-Wiki.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="395" /><p id="caption-attachment-128145" class="wp-caption-text"><em>International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C., United States.</em></p></div>
<p data-reactid="40">“We will have to revise down our projections from 6.2 percent to somewhere around 5.2 percent,” Laure Redifer, the IMF’s mission chief for Rwanda said.</p>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="41">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="42">Reporting by Clement Uwiringiyimana; Writing by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Larry King</p>
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IMF lowers forecast for Rwanda’s 2017 GDP growth from 6.2% to 5.2%

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<p>Kenya’s foreign direct investment projects went down by 57.9 per cent in 2016.</p>


Kenyan foreign direct investment outlook

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<p>Judith Tyson, a Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, the UK’s leading think tank on international development says the IMF&#8217;s forecast is too gloomy. She joins CNBC Africa from London for this discussion.</p>


IMF forecast for SSA too gloomy – Expert

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<p>The International Monetary Fund has launched the Regional Economic Outlook for Sub Saharan Africa citing an urgent need for countries in the region to implement structural reforms and seize opportunities to enhance growth.</p>


Rising debt, political uncertainty dim SSA’s economic outlook – IMF

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<p>Nigeria&#8217;s minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has asked the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to scale up provision and access to renewable energy in Nigeria in order to deliver development results and meet global climate goals.</p>


Investing in Nigeria’s energy mix

<p data-reactid="32">Zambia’s public debt is growing unsustainably, making the economy of Africa’s No. 2 copper producer vulnerable to market swings and reversals in capital flows, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday.</p>
<p data-reactid="34">Publicly guaranteed debt increased from 36 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2014 to 60 percent at end of 2016, it said.</p>
<p>“Public debt has been rising at an unsustainable pace and has crowded out lending to the private sector and increased the vulnerability of the economy,” the Fund said in a statement after its executive board concluded consultations with Lusaka.</p>
<p data-reactid="36">“Directors expressed concern at the pace at which public debt, especially external debt, has increased and now put Zambia at high risk of debt distress. They commended the progress made in developing a medium-term debt strategy.”</p>
<p data-reactid="37">The IMF said while the government was committed to reducing its fiscal deficit from 9 percent of GDP in 2016, its cash deficit would remain “elevated” as government arrears were cleared.</p>
<p data-reactid="38">“Increased participation of foreign investors in the government securities market has eased the government’s financing constraint but has made the economy more vulnerable to swings in market sentiments and capital flow reversals.”</p>
<p data-reactid="39">The IMF forecast growth of 4 percent in 2017, slower than the government’s forecast of 4.3 percent.</p>
<p data-reactid="40">“Domestic risks to the outlook include delayed fiscal adjustment which would continue to crowd out credit to private sector and entrench an unsustainable debt situation, and unfavorable weather conditions which would affect hydro power generation and agricultural output,” the Fund said.</p>
<p>“External risks include tighter global financial conditions and volatility in the world copper price.”</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="42">Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Richard Balmforth</p>
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International Monetary Fund

IMF approves $158MN credit to Burkina Faso

IMF approves Kenya’s request to extend stand-by agreement by 6 months

IMF says confident Ghana will meet April review requirements

Nigeria’s people getting poorer, government to ‘muddle through: IMF

Kenya’s $1.5BN standby credit in place, but not accessible: IMF

IMF cuts South Africa’s growth forecast for next two years

Central African economies contracted this year, but by less than before -IMF

South Africa should prepare for the worst case scenario: seeking help from the IMF

Burundi’s inflation rises to 17.6% yr/yr in October

Zimbabwe’s economic situation “very difficult”: IMF mission chief

Angola in “mild recovery” but macroeconomic challenges remain:IMF

IMF lowers forecast for Rwanda’s 2017 GDP growth from 6.2% to 5.2%

Kenyan foreign direct investment outlook

IMF forecast for SSA too gloomy – Expert

Rising debt, political uncertainty dim SSA’s economic outlook – IMF

Investing in Nigeria’s energy mix

IMF says Zambia public debt rising at unsustainable pace

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