{"id":9177,"date":"2012-04-18T20:26:06","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T20:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/?p=9177"},"modified":"2012-04-18T20:26:06","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T20:26:06","slug":"imf-predicts-5-4-economic-growth-for-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/18\/imf-predicts-5-4-economic-growth-for-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"IMF predicts 5.4% economic growth for 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> High commodity prices will buoy much of sub-Saharan Africa in 2012, but South Africa will continue to stumble due to its deep ties to crisis-ridden Europe, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/imf.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/imf.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"imf\" width=\"125\" height=\"123\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8114\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The IMF also predicted a 7.1% growth in Nigeria\u2019s economy this year.<\/p>\n<p>Growth in sub-Saharan Africa will pick up to 5.4% this year thanks to new mineral and oil production and the growth of export markets outside Europe, according to the fund\u2019s latest world economic outlook.<\/p>\n<p>But South Africa, the region\u2019s largest economy, will grow by a modest 2.7% this year, as it struggles with weaker terms of trade and a decrease in business confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSluggish growth in South Africa may require some policy support,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Reuters, South Africa depends on Europe as a market for its high value-added exports, and has seen soaring unemployment, stock market volatility and currency depreciation, due to the eurozone\u2019s sovereign debt crisis.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s 2012 growth forecast was revised up from 2.5% in January, while a projection for regional growth in 2012 was revised down modestly from 5.5%.<\/p>\n<p>Many other sub-Saharan countries have benefited from limited exposure to Europe as well as rebounding agricultural sectors after last year\u2019s droughts, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Oil exporting sub-Saharan countries are projected to grow by 7.3% in 2012, buoyed by oil production in Angola. The reports said that Nigeria, another major oil producer, will grow by 7.1%.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the generally rosy predictions, the IMF warned of knock-on effects to African economies if Europe tumbles further.<\/p>\n<p>Such a shock would likely be transmitted via South Africa, and would hit African exports, remittances, aid and private investment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdverse shocks affecting South Africa can quickly spread to neighboring economies, through their effect on migrant workers\u2019 incomes, trade, regional investment, and finance,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa should consider further monetary easing if the slowdown continues, the report noted, as long as inflation remains low.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High commodity prices will buoy much of sub-Saharan Africa in 2012, but South Africa will continue to stumble due to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[699,2110,820,258],"class_list":["post-9177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-2","tag-africa","tag-ecconomy","tag-imf","tag-malawi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}