The economies of Sub-Saharan African countries are expected to maintain improved growth in 2013, although the euro zone crisis and the economic slowdown in United States present weak points that may adversely affect growth in some countries.

Director of the African Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, said in Nairobi on Monday, that high global commodity prices, increase in local demand for goods and services are some of the factors that will drive economic growth in the region.

“The ongoing recovery of the agriculture sector because of better rainfall after a spate of drought gives us the optimism that growth will be sustained,” Sayeh told Xinhua in an interview in Nairobi.

She said countries have also done well to reduce inflation experienced in 2011 after surge in the prices of food and oil.

Average inflation in Sub-Sahara Africa was expected to drop from an average of 10 per cent in December 2011 to eight per cent in December 2011.

“We expect that inflation will be contained in the SSA region in 2013 although the rising prices of cereals especially wheat is worrying,” said Sayeh.

Another key concern for the region is the sluggish growth of the export revenue, said the IMF Africa director, against the rising demand for imports into SSA because of the investments taking place.

She said borrowing to finance development is not necessarily bad for SSA but measures should be taken to ensure that the money is used for the appropriate purpose. It was forcing countries to spend more of their foreign exchange reserves and therefore affecting the volatility of their exchange rate.

But IMF said it has been encouraged by the fact that a substantial portion of the imports are being funded by foreign exchange inflows rather than reserves.

“The near-term outlook for the region remains broadly positive, with growth projected above five per cent a year in 2012–13,” said Sayeh, when she launched the report.