Global crisis forces African gov'ts to turn to IMF

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - Years after graduating from dependence on the International Monetary Fund, many African countries are having to call upon the fund for assistance to cope with a global economic crisis that is not their fault.

The international economic turmoil has been slower to reach Africa because of its limited financial links to the outside world.

But now, African economies are struggling against collapsing demand for their products, volatile commodity prices and falling foreign investment.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn describes Africa as "an innocent victim of this global financial tsunami."

"It did not make the mistakes of the advanced countries that are responsible for the crisis," he said before last week's visit to West Africa. "On the contrary, the region did many of the right things, adopting prudent macroeconomic policies and building up reserves," he added.

The crisis has also come on the heels of last year's unprecedented rise in world food prices, which pushed more of the world's people deeper into poverty, threatened to increase social unrest and squeezed government budgets.

New IMF lending figures for Africa show that funding hit $1.6 billion in May, double the level for 2008.

Among countries seeking IMF aid are Kenya and Tanzania -- two of Africa's biggest economic reformers. The IMF on Friday approved a total of $545 million in emergency funding for the pair of East African countries.