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【国际发展论坛第37期】Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa: A Difficult Road to Recovery

2020-12-18

The 37th NSE International Development Forum

Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa: A Difficult Road to Recovery

 

Time: 9:00 – 10:30 am, December 18th, 2020

Speaker:Dr. Seung Mo Choi, Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Link:https://zoom.us/j/94747512325?pwd=eGRsWDRBMWpncFFvOGZBdmpMZ2FtUT09

Meeting ID: 947 4751 2325

Passcode: IDF37

 

Abstract:

Sub-Saharan Africa is contending with an unprecedented health and economic crisis— one that, in just a few months, has jeopardized years of hard-won development gains and upended the lives and livelihoods of millions. The current outlook for 2020–21 is broadly unchanged from the June update, with activity in 2020 projected to contract by 3.0 percent, still the worst outcome on record. For 2021, regional growth should recover modestly to 3.1 percent. This outlook is subject to some key downside risks, particularly regarding the path of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resilience of the region's health systems. These risks are compounded by uncertainty on the availability of external financing, with associated needs estimated at about $900 billion over 2020–23, the sources of which between $130 billion and $410 billion are unidentified. Overall, the region's outlook will be shaped by the availability of additional financing and the transformative domestic reforms to promote resilience (including revenue mobilization, digitalization, and fostering better transparency and governance), lift medium-term growth, create opportunities for a wave of new job seekers, and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

Speaker:

Seung Mo Choi is a Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In the IMF, he has worked on African, Asian, and European economies and has authored research articles on macroeconomic policies, economic growth, and financial markets. He has led several IMF projects, including nowcasting GDPs for countries whose official data are limited and estimating the economic impacts of climate change. His work agenda also included projecting external financing needs for African countries. He has also lectured at IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, Washington State University, and University of Chicago. He obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Economics from Seoul National University.