Madagascar's central bank has slashed its 2020 growth forecast for the Indian Ocean island nation to 1.2% from 5.5%, citing the global recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a statement on its website.
Inflation is expected to average 7.2% this year, the Antananarivo-based central bank said after its monetary policy committee meeting held on Friday. The bank maintained its marginal lending rate at 5.3% and the cash reserve ratio at 13%.
Madagascar, the world's biggest producer of vanilla, registered a 52% drop in receipts from exports of the crop in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, according to the central bank, known as Banky Foiben'I Madagasikara.
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