Every year, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings host a discussion on issues related to poverty reduction, international economic development, and finance. Given these two institutions’ presence and influence in sub-Saharan Africa, these meetings often deliver a range of policy prescriptions to improve these countries’ economic climates. So, what are the key takeaways for African countries from IMF and World Bank meetings that were held earlier this month in Lima, Peru?
While in recent years, these meetings have focused on the “Africa Rising” narrative, this year they centered on the continent’s recent falling GDP growth rate. For instance, the IMF forecasts that GDP growth in sub-Saharan Read More
The high profile of infrastructure and access to related services in the communiques of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at their annual meetings in late 2014 underscores the importance of this issue for development worldwide. Nowhere is lack of infrastructure more crucial and potentially transformational than in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, the World Bank and major donors and multilateral institutions investigated this challenge of addressing the region’s glaring infrastructure gap.1
That comprehensive regional analysis aimed to establish “a baseline against which future improvements in infrastructure services can be measured” and guide priority investments and policy reforms. The analysis estimated that the region needed $93 billion per Read More