The IMF in its report - 2005 World Economic Outlook (WEC) published on Wednesday expects the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) to see a deceleration in its economic growth rate. The report said that the region is likely to see economic growth of around 4.2% in 2005 against a growth rate of 4.9% in 2004.
IMF expects growth rate to pick up to 4.7% in 2006. The report also expects Africa's economic growth to decelerate in 2005. The report said that it expects the weakness in non-energy commodities to offset strength among the region's oil exporters, and hence the expectation of a deceleration of growth for Africa as a whole.
The report expects African output to grow 5% in 2005. This is lower than IMF's earlier expectation of 5.4% growth. The continent's economy grew 5.1% in 2004.