Glossary
Glossary
The notions used on Syli Atlas, each defined in a few sentences and shown with the figures of the 54 African countries.
- Gross domestic product (GDP)
- The value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year, measured here in current US dollars.
- GDP per capita
- GDP divided by the population: the average production per inhabitant, a measure of the level of income.
- Purchasing power parity (PPP)
- A conversion that accounts for what money buys in each country, so that incomes can be compared in real terms.
- Real growth
- The change in GDP from one year to the next once inflation is removed: what the economy really produced in addition.
- Inflation
- The rise in consumer prices over a year, as an average annual change.
- Public debt
- What the state and other public administrations owe, in percent of GDP.
- Fiscal balance
- Public revenue minus public spending, in percent of GDP: negative when the state spends more than it collects.
- Current account balance
- What a country earns from abroad minus what it pays abroad (goods, services, income, transfers), in percent of GDP.
- Sovereign credit rating
- The opinion of an agency (S&P, Moody's, Fitch) on a state's ability to repay its debt, from AAA to D.
- Investment grade
- A rating of BBB− (Baa3 at Moody's) or higher: the debt is considered low risk, and most funds may buy it.
- Sovereign default
- When a state does not pay its creditors on time, or makes them accept a loss through a restructuring.
- Risk of debt distress
- The IMF and World Bank assessment, for low-income countries, of the risk that a state cannot service its external debt.
- CFA franc
- The two currencies shared by 14 African countries: the West African franc (XOF) and the Central African franc (XAF), both pegged to the euro.
- IMF estimates and projections
- The IMF publishes its figures in April and October: the latest years are estimates, the next ones projections, revised at each edition.