The World Bank has warned the central banks of Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Uganda to avoid taking any actions that might conflict with their monetary policies.
The World Bank lists these
measures as “monetizing the fiscal deficit, direct lending interventions,
untargeted subsidy programs, and foreign exchange controls.”
The World Bank stated the
serious problem of inflation that monetary authorities in the region faced,
particularly in nations that were dealing with “underdeveloped financial
systems, a sizable informal sector, and a lack of coordination between monetary
and fiscal policies.”
“If monetary and fiscal actions
are not adequately coordinated to bring down inflation, the risk of
de-anchoring inflation expectations would fuel further inflation, accelerate
interest rate increases, and exacerbate the deceleration of economic activity.
In its Africa’s report, the World
Bank examines the short-term economic outlook for the continent, the
development issues that are currently facing the continent, and a particular
development issue.
The 2023 report attributed the
inflationary issues to a number of factors, including “a global demand
slowdown, eased supply chain disruptions, lower commodity prices, and stricter
monetary policies.” “Eighteen countries continue to struggle with double-digit
inflation despite a projected drop to 7.3 percent in 2023 from 9.3 percent in
2022.
The report focused on the
effects on households, especially the poor, who spend a large portion of their
income on food due to rising food and fuel prices and depreciating domestic
currencies.
The report expressed concern
over some countries’ efforts to consolidate their fiscal policies’ slow
progress. Nearly two-thirds of the countries in the region still have fiscal
deficits that are higher than they were prior to the pandemic in 2023.
The World Bank emphasized the
urgent need to address these issues and the necessity of “domestic resource
mobilization and efficient spending” in order to reduce the risks associated
with fiscal and debt sustainability, stop inflation, and make room for
development expenditures.
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