Sub-Saharan African economies, including Ghana’s, are predicted to grow by an encouraging 3.8 percent in 2024.

According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2024 Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa, the region’s economies will grow from 3.4 percent in 2023 to 3.8 percent in 2024.

The outlook indicates that the economic recovery will likely last past 2024, with growth estimates for 2025 reaching 4.0 percent. Inflation has also nearly completely decreased, public debt ratios have mostly stabilized, and this year, a number of nations have resumed issuing Eurobonds to the global market after a two-year break.

Expectations are that the region will remain more susceptible to external shocks on a global scale, the possibility of increasing political instability, and frequent climate events, even with the positive projections.

The IMF has recommended adopting and strengthening public finances without compromising development, monetary policy aimed at maintaining price stability, and structural reforms to diversify funding sources and economies in order to lessen the effects of the vulnerabilities.

Speaking to Bernard Avle on the outlook on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM, Catherine Pattillo, Deputy Director in the IMF’s African Department, lamented the numerous natural disasters in southern and eastern Africa, claiming that they might have an impact on the projections.

“In Southern Africa, they are facing a really devastating drought and in East Africa, you are seeing a lot of flooding in a number of countries and so this impact is going to be felt and given the potential impact on the agricultural sector, it could mean that we will have to look at those growth projections again.”

She clarified that the countries predicted to experience a slowdown in growth are not the result of borrowing, contrary to popular belief, but rather of the uses of borrowed money.

“The issue with borrowing is not so much about whether it is a good or bad thing per se but how you use the money and whether you can generate growth and both FX and domestic revenue to make sure that you can capture the rate of return and be able to stay stable.”