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                       IMF Sees Sub-Saharan Africa Growth

   by Reuters

   The [1]IMF on Tuesday forecast economic growth of 5.4 percent in 2013
   and 5.7 percent in 2014 for the [2]economies of sub-Saharan Africa on
   the back of rising investment and booming extractive industries.

   "Sub-Saharan Africa will be among the fastest growing places in the
   world ... second only to developing Asia," Antoinette Sayeh, director
   of the IMF's Africa department, told journalists at the report's
   release in Ghana's capital Accra.

   In April, the International Monetary Fund had forecast sub-Saharan
   Africa's growth at 5.6 percent for this year and 6.1 percent for 2014
   in its [3]World Economic Outlook.

   The [4]regional outlook released on Tuesday explained that the
   discrepancy in growth figures was due to the exclusion of South Sudan's
   volatile economy from the Fund's latest calculations.

   Despite a global economic slowdown in 2012, most African economies grew
   at around 5 percent, buoyed by strong internal demand and higher
   commodity prices.

   The report stated that GDP growth in countries categorized as middle
   income would be slower than in poorer nations, with the region's
   largest economy South Africa recovering only gradually from a weak
   2012.

   Inflation on the continent, which fell to 7.9 percent in 2012 from 10
   percent the previous year, will continue its downward trend in 2013 and
   2014, said Sayah.

   The slowdown in inflation reflects factors including a tightening of
   monetary policy as well as improved weather in East Africa and West
   Africa's arid Sahel region, which lowered food production costs, the
   report said.
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References

   1. http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm
   2. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2013/CAR051013A.htm
   3. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2013/01/pdf/text.pdf
   4. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2013/afr/eng/sreo0513.pdf
   5. http://www.voanews.com/content/imf-sees-sub-saharan-africa-growth-at-5-point-seven-pct-in-2014/1660689.html