Sub-Saharan Africa economies on the mend

Sub-Saharan Africa has “recovered well” from the global financial crisis, and the region is now “second only” to developing Asia in its rate of expansion, according to the latest International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook. Output in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa has broadly returned to precrisis trends, it says. South Africa is, however, singled out as a “notable exception”. “Despite an already sizable output gap, South Africa is expected to grow by only 3% in 2011 – a rate that is insufficient to reverse the substantial job losses of the past two years.