Ethiopia’s economic growth holding well despite a limping global economy – IMF

Addis Ababa, October 20, 2023 (FBC) – Ethiopia’s economic growth is holding relatively well unlike the lingering global growth due to multiple shocks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

The NBE hosted today the IMF research team that prepared this year’s World Economic Outlook. The WEO report finds that while the global economy is recovering from multiple shocks, it is just “limping along, not sprinting”.

Per IMF forecasts, global growth is projected to slow from 3.5 percent in 2022, to 3.0 percent in 2023, and to 2.9 percent in 2024. Key risks for next year concerns are commodity prices, still-high inflation, and elevated debt levels.

On Ethiopia, the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook also released last week notes that Ethiopia’s growth is holding up well at 6.1 percent in 2023 compared to a Sub-Saharan African average of 3.3 percent.

The IMF report also shows an improvement in Ethiopia’s public debt ratio (from 54% of GDP in 2021 to 38% of GDP in 2023), in the external debt ratio (from 29% of GDP in 2021 to 18% of GDP in 2023), and in the current account deficit (from 3.2% of GDP to 2.4% of GDP).