Zeine Zeidane, Director of the African Department at the IMF, poses for a portrait in the atrium of the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2026. The International Monetary Fund on October 15 upgraded its growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 4.5 percent this year, with the organization's regional director welcoming countries' resilience in the face of a succession of crises, including the US-Iran war. IMF Africa Director Zeine Zeidane told AFP that even though growth was resilient, it needed to increase to keep pace with other regions. "Our view is that per capita growth today remains quite weak," he told AFP at the Fund's headquarters in Washington. The former Mauritanian prime minister noted, however, that countries had broadly been able to maintain current growth rates -- even through multiple crises -- without jeopardizing their public finances, with debt-to-GDP ratios broadly declining in most countries. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP via Getty Images)