Ethiopia - World Bank disputes gov't Growth Forecast

Ethiopian government is saying the country's GDP is expected to expand by 11.2% for the current fiscal year, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) thinks that projection number is too rosy and it cuts the projection by half. Earlier this month, Sukhwinder Singh, IMF resident representative for Ethiopia, said that the Fund’s 2009 GDP growth forecast for Ethiopia stood at 6.5 percent, contrary to the government’s 11.2 percent projection. Now The Daily Monitor is reporting that, the World Bank agrees with IMF's forecast. Here is what was reported by The Monitor, "The World Bank team here believes that the IMF's is more realistic than the government's forecast for the reason that investment in the country seems to be slowing" the Bank's Country Director for Ethiopia Kenichi Ohashi told journalists at a round table discussion attended by visiting World Bank Director for International Affairs, Grace Ssempala.