Mr. Speaker, Sir.

ii. WORLD ECONOMY

7) Global growth is projected to drop below its potential growth level in 2006. However, the economic outlook for Africa is quite upbeat, with real GDP growth in Sub-Saharan Africa projected at 5.3 per cent in 2006. The West African Region is expected to growth by 4.8 per cent. Central, East, North and Southern Africa are expected to grow by 5.5, 5.1, 5.2 and 5.2 per cent respectively. Growth in the Euro area is projected to decline slightly to about 3.7 per cent. In the United Kingdom, growth is expected to marginally decline by 0.3 per cent. Like the United Kingdom, growth in the United States too is forecasted to decline to 5.7 per cent in 2006 from 6.1 per cent in 2005.

8) On the inflation front, the sustained increases in oil prices to all time high of over US$65 per barrel is largely responsible for the upsurge in global inflation to an average rate of about 3.2 per cent. This will have an adverse economic impact on oil importing developing countries, especially Sub-Saharan African Countries with oil-intensive and vulnerable economies through higher inflation. Consumer price inflation is projected at about 8.3 per cent on average in the Sub-Saharan African Region as a whole. In the CFA franc zone, average inflation is expected to be continued to 2.6 per cent.

-end.