Your Excellency, Emmerson Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe,
Your Excellency, Joaquim Chissano, former President of the Republic of Mozambique,
The Rt. Honorable Dr. Luisa Diogo, former Prime Minister of Mozambique,
“Preliminary data show significantly stronger real GDP growth in 2022 than previously anticipated. Growth is now estimated at 8.5 percent, as stronger-than-expected mining production (which grew at about 20 percent) more than compensated for a downward revision to non-extractive growth (to 3.2 percent from 3.9 percent). Annual inflation reached 13.1 percent at end-2022 on account of higher food, energy, and transport prices. Preliminary data also suggest that the current account deficit widened in 2022, due to strong import growth and deteriorated terms of trade. Despite this deterioration, the Central Bank of Congo (BCC) has reported gross international reserves at US$4.6 billion, about $300 million above the previous projection. The 2022 overall fiscal balance is estimated to have deteriorated as spending increased to address the security situation and arrears repayments.
Country Report No. 2023/092
Country Report No. 2023/091
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.
