Latest news with #AbebeAemroSelassie
Zawya
14-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
IMF cuts Angola's 2025 growth forecast to 2.4% on emerging risks
NAIROBI: The International Monetary Fund has cut Angola's preliminary growth outlook for 2025 to 2.4% from an initial 3%, it said after an assessment mission to Luanda, citing lower prices of oil and tightening external financing conditions. The Southern African oil exporter had to pay $200 million as extra security for a $1 billion loan from JPMorgan during the height of the selloff of risky assets last month, exposing the challenges faced by small, open African economies. "This downward revision to the outlook also poses risks to fiscal performance," the Fund said in a statement, adding that the findings will be discussed by its board in July. The team, was however, reassured by the government's determination to contain emerging risks, and to put in place mitigating measures, it said in a statement late on Tuesday. The IMF officials were on a mission known as Post Financing Assessment, which is reserved for nations with outstanding credit above their quotas that do not have an IMF-supported programme or a staff-monitored programme. The Fund sent a separate statement saying its head of Africa department, Abebe Aemro Selassie, had met with Angola's President Joao Lourenco in Luanda, to discuss the situation. "I emphasised the IMF's readiness to continue supporting Angola's efforts," the statement quoted Abebe as saying after the meeting.
Business Recorder
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
IMF cuts Angola's 2025 growth forecast to 2.4% on emerging risks
NAIROBI: The International Monetary Fund has cut Angola's preliminary growth outlook for 2025 to 2.4% from an initial 3%, it said after an assessment mission to Luanda, citing lower prices of oil and tightening external financing conditions. The Southern African oil exporter had to pay $200 million as extra security for a $1 billion loan from JPMorgan during the height of the selloff of risky assets last month, exposing the challenges faced by small, open African economies. 'This downward revision to the outlook also poses risks to fiscal performance,' the Fund said in a statement, adding that the findings will be discussed by its board in July. The team, was however, reassured by the government's determination to contain emerging risks, and to put in place mitigating measures, it said in a statement late on Tuesday. The IMF officials were on a mission known as Post Financing Assessment, which is reserved for nations with outstanding credit above their quotas that do not have an IMF-supported programme or a staff-monitored programme. IMF talks begin today The Fund sent a separate statement saying its head of Africa department, Abebe Aemro Selassie, had met with Angola's President Joao Lourenco in Luanda, to discuss the situation. 'I emphasised the IMF's readiness to continue supporting Angola's efforts,' the statement quoted Abebe as saying after the meeting.
Reuters
14-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
IMF cuts Angola's 2025 growth forecast to 2.4% on emerging risks
NAIROBI, May 14 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund has cut Angola's preliminary growth outlook for 2025 to 2.4% from an initial 3%, it said after an assessment mission to Luanda, citing lower prices of oil and tightening external financing conditions. The Southern African oil exporter had to pay $200 million as extra security for a $1 billion loan from JPMorgan during the height of the selloff of risky assets last month, exposing the challenges faced by small, open African economies. "This downward revision to the outlook also poses risks to fiscal performance," the Fund said in a statement, adding that the findings will be discussed by its board in July. The team, was however, reassured by the government's determination to contain emerging risks, and to put in place mitigating measures, it said in a statement late on Tuesday. The IMF officials were on a mission known as Post Financing Assessment, which is reserved for nations with outstanding credit above their quotas that do not have an IMF-supported programme or a staff-monitored programme. The Fund sent a separate statement saying its head of Africa department, Abebe Aemro Selassie, had met with Angola's President Joao Lourenco in Luanda, to discuss the situation. "I emphasised the IMF's readiness to continue supporting Angola's efforts," the statement quoted Abebe as saying after the meeting.
Reuters
25-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Sub-Saharan Africa must lift revenue to ride out global turbulence
WASHINGTON/NAIROBI, April 25 (Reuters) - Sub-Saharan African economies should work to increase their domestic revenue collection to avoid having to take on debt amid "turbulent global conditions", International Monetary Fund Africa Director Abebe Aemro Selassie said. The region's economy is likely to expand by 3.8% this year, the Fund said in its World Economic Outlook report this week, marking a cut from its previous forecast of 4.2% due to the potential impact of the U.S. administration's stance on trade. "There is a period where maybe relying on debt financing is not the right way to do development," Abebe told Reuters, adding that policymakers have to also identify new sources of cheaper capital. Investors sold off risky assets after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners, pushing up the yields of most issuers in sub-Saharan Africa into double digits, a sign that such so-called frontier economies could struggle to access capital markets. "You have to look for internal resources to address the development and address social spending needs," Abebe said. "These policies that are to enhance resilience, there is a higher premium on those." The average debt-to-economic-output ratio in the region was steady last year at less than 60% of GDP, the IMF said, but some economies like Kenya have been struggling with high debt-servicing costs. Although the United States is not a major trading partner for many economies in the region, the knock-on effects from its approach to international trade are also piling pressure on the foreign exchange rates of economies, he said. "We have already seen oil prices decline... Countries like Nigeria and Angola are going to see a mark-down in economic activity, and they are some of the largest economies in sub-Saharan Africa," he said. The projected setback could interrupt a "hard fought economic recovery" from the global pandemic, a worldwide inflation spike and an interest rate surge that effectively locked many African economies out of foreign capital markets, the IMF said. Growth in the region, home to a wide range of economies, including fairly diversified ones like Tanzania and Senegal, reached 4% last year, surpassing the IMF's forecast of 3.6%, the Fund said. Last year's robust economic expansion in the region was accompanied by an improvement in macroeconomic imbalances, the IMF said, citing lower average inflation and stable debt levels. "We have seen quite a lot of resilience in the region," Abebe said, adding that 11 out of the 20 fastest-growing economies in the world will be in sub-Saharan Africa.
Bloomberg
08-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
IMF Sees Requests From Africa Rising as Trump's Policies Bite
The International Monetary Fund is anticipating an increase in funding support requests from Africa as US President Donald Trump's tariffs and aid cuts reduce options. 'We live in a shock-prone world,' Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the African Department of the Washington-based lender, told reporters Tuesday in Senegal's capital, Dakar. 'The poorest and least resilient countries are increasingly turning to institutions like ours. I don't rule out' more African countries seeking support, he said.
