Oil-exporting countries have enjoyed an uptick in commodity prices

Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the IMF's African Department

Growth across sub-Saharan African will rise to 3.4 per cent this year from 2.8 per cent in 2017, but in the continent's poorest countries, debt is a major burden, the IMF said yesterday.

Top performers are Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania, the International Monetary Fund said.