WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – South Africa will not fall into recession this year despite a gloomy International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast and a contraction in the last three months of 2022, its finance minister told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

Africa’s most developed economy is the midst of a severe power crisis caused by a decline in state utility Eskom’s ability to meet electricity demand.

An escalation in rolling power cuts heavily impacted activity in most sectors at the end of last year, leading to a 1.3% contraction in the fourth quarter. And the IMF has cut its 2023 forecast and is now predicting only slight growth of 0.1%.

Those figures have sparked speculation that South Africa, which has struggled with years of anaemic growth, could slip into a recession.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that would not happen.

“I rule out that possibility this year. We’re not going to record successive negative quarters. I don’t think that’s going to be possible,” he said.

He reaffirmed his stance that the government would not provide further bailouts to Eskom despite the new electricity minister telling Reuters earlier this week that South Africa should not shy away from spending to fix the crisis.

Reporting by Joe Bavier and Jorgelina do Rosario; Editing by Paul Simao

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