IMF says African economy recovering faster due to private sector

Nairobi - The International Monetary Fund has announced that the African economy is recovering much quicker than a lot of other regions of the world and they believe the private sector was a key attributing factor to the recovery.

On Sunday, International Monetary Fund Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that economies in the African continent are recovering much quicker from the global financial collapse than a lot of other nations around the globe, according to AFP. The continent’s fast recovery stems from South Africa’s slow recession, Nigeria’s growth during the second half of 2009 and better fiscal policies. “We expected the Asian markets to recover quicker than the African countries but we are surprised even the African economies are recovering faster than we expected,” Strauss-Kahn told reporters in Nairobi. Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, the IMF’s African division Director, announced that Africa’s Gross Domestic Product in 2010 is expected to grow 2 per cent but she still believes 2009 was a very difficult year for all of the countries in Africa, reports Press TV. “It is still the case that 2009 was a very difficult year for the region. The less than two percent comes almost after a decade of some five to seven percent average growth for the region and significant increases as a result of the per capita income,” said Sayeh. Brunei News notes that Sayeh attributed the recovery due to Africa’s embracement of the private sector in recent years, which prompted a more attractive environment for further foreign investment. Sayeh also believes since the late-1990s and throughout this decade, African nations are addressing their fiscal restraints, deficits and monetary policies, “Another factor was that inflation had come under control so they were also able to use interest rate policy and reduce interest rates as another means of mitigating the impact of the crisis.”