'Prosperous Africa vital for global economy': IMF, World Bank hold first meetings in Africa in 50 years

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00:00 Changing the funding capacity of global lenders would mean that they could better help developing

00:04 countries address climate change and other challenges. Now that's just one of the key

00:07 issues on the agenda of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as they hold their

00:12 annual meeting. Now that is in Morocco this year and is currently underway. Both the IMF and the

00:19 World Bank said they want Africa to have a third seat on their executive boards. Earlier Catherine

00:25 Petillo, the International Monetary Fund's deputy director for Africa, told me that returning the

00:30 gathering to the continent for the first time in 50 years was a reflection of the value placed

00:35 on its perspective. The issue of a third African chair at our executive board to amplify the voice

00:44 of African countries, that's an issue for our member countries to decide. As staff we're hopeful

00:51 that the members will agree to this third chair. It's being discussed now during these annual

00:55 meetings. This would really recognize the importance of sub-Saharan Africa. It's a region

01:01 with 1.1 billion people, GDP of over 2 trillion dollars, a young and growing population, abundant

01:08 natural resources, immense entrepreneurial spirit, a continent which is really increasingly critical

01:15 to help solve global challenges. Really, I mean, looking forward there can't be a prosperous

01:21 global economy without a prosperous Africa. Now from Covid to the fallout from the war in the

01:26 UK, to the mounting effects of climate change, to the rash of coups that we've seen recently,

01:31 Africa has faced some pretty big economic shocks over the last few years. One of the main outcomes

01:38 of Tuesday was a breakdown of Africa's prospects of economic recovery. So if you could just give

01:45 a bit of a sense of what the main takeaways are from that and how the IMF plans on responding.

01:50 So after four years of crises, crises after crises, including the pandemic, now there are

02:00 some tentative signs that the outlook in many African countries is improving. And while the

02:08 region is very diverse, growth on the African continent is set to strengthen from 3.2 percent

02:17 in 2023 to 3.8 percent next year. And importantly, contributing to that is rising private investment

02:29 and consumption. And that's expected to lift growth in 2024 for more than three quarters of

02:36 the region's economies. So it's not just a few big economies, but it is getting more widespread.

02:42 Some other indicators are in the right direction. Inflation is falling,

02:46 public finances and debt levels are stabilizing in some countries. But it is too early to

02:55 celebrate. In many cases, inflation is still too high. Government's borrowing costs are elevated,

03:02 and countries face what we have termed a funding squeeze. There are exchange rate

03:09 pressures that are persisting. So what we really need is stronger, still job-rich, inclusive growth.

03:18 And that's needed to alleviate the scarring that happened, to increase per capita income

03:24 and increase living standards. At these annual meetings, we want to acknowledge

03:32 the really incredible work and agency of the African authorities, which we at the Fund support

03:39 to our utmost, and support them then in addressing these really difficult challenges that they have

03:46 to then take strong reforms to allow the region and its people to reach their full potential.

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