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Vol 66 No 21

Published 24th October 2025


Debt shadows growth as Africa faces fiscal reckoning

Higher growth forecasts have to be set against falling per capita incomes, a monumental job creation challenge, and failure to agree on debt restructuring

As the International Monetary Fund and World Bank held their Annual Meetings from 13-18 October in Washington DC, persistent fears over global economic risks were tempered by relief that this year’s United States tariff hikes – and China’s response – have so far had less impact than expected. The IMF raised its global growth forecast for 2025 to 3.2% – up from April’s 2.8% but still below last year’s rate. The outlook remains clouded by worryingly high debt accumulation and debt servicing burdens, trade policy uncertainty, stretched asset prices and falling aid flows to low-income economies.

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