This week, finance ministers, central bankers, business executives and leaders of civil society organizations gathered in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, and World Bank. But African delegations who flew to Washington seeking a breakthrough on their key priorities—including inflation, debt distress, declining foreign investment and sluggish economic growth—are likely to leave town disappointed at the lack of concrete gains made this week. The IMF-World Bank meetings are also taking place against a backdrop of growing pessimism about global economic conditions. The fund projected that the global economy will grow by 2.8 percent this year and three percent next year in its World Economic Outlook report released this week. This was a decline of 0.1 percentage point from its January forecast.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 14, 2023 19:35 UTC