Cameroon, Rwanda and Côte d'Ivoire are the sub-Saharan African countries with the highest
great capacity for adjustment of their public expenditure, in the event of a new external shock, according to a
recent analysis by Moody's. "Rwanda, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire benefit from the most
high expenditure flexibility, reflecting high capital expenditure levels and the character
concessional debt (which contains interest expense),” the document reads.
The rating agency explains that the public expenditure commitments made by the States that it monitors in
sub-Saharan Africa, are not immune to a new shock, in an international economic context
which suffers from a number of challenges. One solution used by several of these countries has been to remove
some public spending.
However, this flexibility is not evident for all countries. Cameroon, Rwanda and the Coast
d'Ivoire seem to be able to fare better, as they do not have too many binding commitments in
the structure of their public expenditure. This is not the case for Namibia, or even Nigeria and the
Ghana who do not have the same possibilities, and any new shock would be difficult for them to absorb.