Sub-Saharan Africa could see economic growth of close to 5% in 2010, compared with a mere 2% in 2009, while South Africa's economy might grow faster than initial predictions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Johannesburg Media Club breakfast, IMF African division chief Abebe Selassie said that most countries in the region were now bouncing back from the growth slowdown or contraction in output experienced during the global recession.

The IMF predicted growth of around 2,6% for South Africa in its latest regional economic outlook survey, but Selassie indicated that the growth trend could be closer to 3% by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan also indicated that South Africa's economic growth could be "somewhat higher" than the 2,3% predicted in his February Budget.

Selassie noted that the biggest risk to South Africa's economy was that of unemployment.

South Africa shed over 800 000 jobs during the recession, which is said to be somewhat inconsistent with the degree to which the country was impacted on by the recession.

However, Selassie told Engineering News Online that South Africa actually implemented macroeconomic policy "pretty efficiently" during the recession.

He pointed out that South Africa had to absorb shocks such as a significant decrease in demand for platinum-group metals, which are used in the automotive industry - a sector that was severely affected worldwide by the recession.

Nevertheless, Selassi said that South Africa had a lot of scope to create job opportunities.

Meanwhile, he explained that the brevity of the slowdown in sub-Saharan Africa was mainly owing to the relative strength of the region's economies heading into 2008/9.

The sub-Saharan region, consisting of 44 countries, saw accelerated growth of around 6,5% at the end of 2008, with foreign exchange reserves reaching peak levels and government debt going down from a peak of 101% in 2001, to 40% in 2008.

Further, the continent had shifted a large proportion of its exports from advanced economies such as Europe and the US, to emerging markets such as China and India that proved to be more resilient during the recession.

"This gave the region a bit of a cushion and flexibility to relax policies during the brunt of the recession and, for the first time, the region is set to enjoy a fairly quick recovery in line with the rest of the world."

Looking ahead, the IMF envisaged accelerated growth for the region of 5,75% in 2011, provided that the global economy continued to improve.

"For most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the emphasis of economic policies now need to be on medium-term development objectives consistent with macroeconomic stability considerations.

"Fiscal policies need to shift from near-term and output stabilisation considerations towards a more traditional focus on strengthening health and education systems and addressing infrastructure gaps, and where fiscal deficits have been increased beyond sustainable medium-term paths, these should be revisited so that buffers can be restored," concluded Selassi.