Regional outlooks are generally positive

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Higher oil prices could threaten otherwise favorable outlooks for sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the IMF's outlooks for those regions. Inflation around the globe is generally in check. In 2006, growth is expected to again exceed 5 percent in Africa and to top 7 percent in Asia. After exceeding expectations in 2005, growth is projected to be above 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Sub-Saharan Africa enjoys strong growth, thanks in part to prudent policies

Sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth is projected at 5.3 percent in 2006, the same rate as in 2005, according to the IMF's Sub-Saharan Africa: Regional Economic Outlook (REO), released April 21 in Washington, D.C. (Sub-Saharan Africa, defined in the REO as the countries covered by the IMF African Department, excludes Djibouti, Mauritania, and Sudan; the projections for the group thus differ from those in the World Economic Outlook.)

African countries call on IMF to complement their development efforts

On April 22 in Washington, D.C., Abdoulaye Diop (Senegal's Minister of Economy, Finance, and Planning), Jean-Claude Masangu Mulongo (Governor, Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of Congo), Baledzi Gaolathe (Botswana's Minister of Finance and Development Planning), and Antoinette Sayeh (Liberia's Minister of Finance) briefed the press on issues important to African countries:

Zimbabwe's economic situation; the prospects for a Southern African Development Community (SADC) free trade zone, the impact of a quota redistribution on African countries, and the status of a common currency for West African countries.

Diop opened by saying it was a good time for African countries, especially the French-speaking ones, to review their positions in the IMF and the World Bank and to react to the various reform strategies.

Gaolathe noted that African countries looked to these institutions to complement or supplement their development efforts.

Responding to a question about Zimbabwe's situation and whether an economic intervention to save it had been contemplated, Gaolathe indicated that SADC members would have to work cooperatively to solve that issue and would ask their international partners to support Zimbabwe's efforts to overcome its problems. He foresaw a...