IMF warns African states of reduced GDP growth

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday forecast that 17 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa would suffer from reduced GDP per capita income growth.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said this at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Friday.

Giving a presentation, she said harnessing the potential of technology for development activities is one way to tackle the issue.

According to her, one way of tackling the issue is by harnessing the potential of technology, including information technology for development activities, from which Africa has already been making some gains.

She said new technologies are expanding access to vital market information, helping to obtain more income by eliminating the role of middle men from the market chain.

"People are now more likely to have a mobile money account than a traditional bank account," she claimed. “Some 36 percent of adults in Africa have mobile money accounts.”

Lagarde has become the first IMF head to visit the Economic Commission for Africa and also Ethiopia.