FIGURE 1.23: Import Coverage of Reserves across Sub-Saharan African Countries, 2018 (months)
FIG 1.2.22
Over half of the African countries have low reserve buffers, limiting their ability to mitigate monetary and financial shocks.
12 10 8 6 4 2
BWA MUS NGA COM TZA AGO CAF CPV ZAF CMR UGA KEN MDG NAM SYC LSO MOZ MRT RWA SLE GMB MWI GHA GAB STP SWZ ETH GIN ZMB BDI COG COD TCD GNQ ZWE
0
Sources: World Bank; Haver Analytics.
that exceeds 5 percent of GDP—and 13 countries have external deficits greater than 10 percent of GDP (figure 1.24). The countries with the largest external imbalances include Mozambique, Niger, Liberia, Guinea, Mauritania, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Sudan, among others. The larger is the external imbalance, the greater is the pressure for the domestic currency to weaken.
One-quarter of the countries in the region have large current account deficits (over 10 percent of GDP), which will be difficult to finance.
FIGURE 1.24: Current Account Balance, Average, 2019–20 (% of GDP)
15 10 5
Percent of GDP
0 –5 –10 –15 –20
–30
ERI COG SWZ GAB AGO NGA SSD ZWE BWA MDG NAM ZAF ZMB CMR GHA CIV COD TZA GNB CPV CAF KEN BFA MLI ETH TGO BEN GNQ TCD MUS COM RWA LSO SEN SDN STP UGA GMB SLE BDI MWI SYC MRT GIN LBR NER MOZ
–25
Sources: World Development Indicators; Macroeconomic and Poverty Outlooks, World Bank.
A F R I C A’ S P U L S E
>
37