The magnitude and persistence of the financial and economic crisis will depend, among other things, on the confidence of actors in the international financial system and the efficacy of economic revival plans that most industrialized and emerging countries have begun to put into action. However, designing practical and appropriate policies in developing countries to stimulate growth and protect vulnerable populations groups, in particular children, from the harmful effects of the crisis requires an understanding of the likely magnitude and nature of these effects. African growth will decline by two thirds according to IMF forecasts - from 6.2 and 5.2 per cent, respectively, in 2007 and 2008 to 1.7 per cent in 2009 - with sub-Saharan Africa facing a more extreme decline - at 1.3 per cent in 2009 compared to 7.0 to 5.5 per cent, respectively, in 2007 and 2008 (IMF 2009b).