Country Report No. 2023/093

Country Report No. 2023/094

“Barbados faced challenging conditions in recent years as a result of the global pandemic, natural disasters, and the rise in global food and fuel prices. After contracting by 14 percent in 2020-2021, economic activity is recovering strongly, driven by the tourism sector, with real GDP growth estimated at 10 percent in 2022. The economic recovery is expected to continue in 2023.

The US Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates to restore price stability and to bring balance to the labor market. The demand for new hires is exceeding the supply of available workers in the US, as the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in over 50 years, and this has contributed to higher inflation.

The economy of the Kyrgyz Republic has shown resilience to the spillovers from the war in Ukraine and is estimated to have grown by 5.5 percent in 2022, driven by gold production, trade, transportation, and agriculture. Annual inflation increased to over 15 percent during the year, mainly due to high global food and fuel prices, but core inflation also rose to double digits. The general government deficit, including lending to energy sector state-owned enterprises, is estimated to have widened to 5.2 percent of GDP in 2022 from 0.8 percent the year before, primarily due to a significant increase in public sector salaries and pensions, and public investment, offsetting efforts to strengthen tax administration that have yielded a remarkable improvement in tax revenue of around 6 percentage points of GDP. Imports are estimated to have increased considerably, partly because of higher oil prices, but also due to an increase in transit trade, while gold exports were negligible. The banking system has remained financially healthy, but non-performing loans increased to more than 12 percent of total loans.

Country Report No. 2023/086

A group photo of participants at the launch of the IMF's Macroeconomic Developments and Prospects in Low-Income Countries - 2022 Report
 

 From left to right: African Development Bank’s Secretary General Vincent Nmehielle and the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Hassan Abdalla 
 

What:     Webinar on the findings and recommendations of an assessment of public procurement in Mauritius
Who:     The Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems (MAPS) Secretariat, Africa Development Bank, and the Government of Mauritius

What?       Seminar on business opportunities for private sector development and financing in Côte d’Ivoire                   
Who?         African Development Bank and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire
When?       Thursday 23 February 2023, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm