Sub-Saharan Africa will experience a slump in economic growth this year. The international monetary fund (IMF) says growth will drop to 6%, compared to 6.5% in 2007.

The IMF attributes the downturn of fortunes to strong increases in food and fuel prices, slower world growth and the raging global financial turmoil.

The bank’s latest economic outlook for the region warned that global conditions are deteriorating fast, and in fact the outlook may already be outdated.

“While the turbulence has reduced global growth and demand for sub-Saharan Africa’s exports somewhat, interest in investing in the continent appears to continue, in part because rates of return there are high relative to those in mature markets, and because sub-Saharan Africa offers unique diversification opportunities,” the report says

Analysts view sub-Saharan Africa as relatively resilient to the global downturn, as growth is largely founded on internal factors, and banks – with the exception of South Africa.

The IMF said African nations’ foreign exchange reserves had held up “fairly well so far”, but would be unlikely to survive the long-term impact of the food and fuel price “shock”.