Why is the IMF meeting in Africa important?

African countries have been badly affected by the global financial crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) held a two-day conference in Dar es Salaam to look for solutions.

The task at hand is not an easy one. Bloomberg reports that Twenty-two poor countries, most of them in Africa, may need $25 billion and possibly as much as $140 billion in emergency aid to weather the global crisis, the fund estimates.

Countries like Zambia and Nigeria have suffered. Investments in areas like mining have dried up in recent months.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned yesterday that the threat of political conflict and even war has increased on the continent as incomes decline and job losses increase.

Source: Bloomberg, BBC World Service
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