African countries are mostly victims of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s, and the developed countries, which are responsible for the current global financial crisis, should take necessary steps to make the crisis duration as short as possible, several African finance ministers said on Saturday.

The ministers from Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Zambia made the appeals at a joint press conference here, held on the sidelines of the two-day spring sessions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The meetings kicked off on Saturday and drew finance ministers and central bank governors from all over the world to discuss how to better combat the current global financial crisis.

"The financial crisis did not start from Africa, it started from here," Situmbeko Musokotwane, the Zambian minister of finance, told the press conference, referring to the United States, origin of the six-month-old financial crisis, which has since spread across the globe.

The Zambian minister's statement won immediate endorsement from Charles Koffy Diby, the finance minister of Cote d'Ivoire, who said, "The crisis didn't come from us. We are victims. The crisis created a drain on our resources."

Therefore, "we urge the rich countries to take the necessary steps to make sure that the financial crisis will be as short as possible," the Zambian minister said.

Financial crisis felt in Africa

The crisis is now in full force in Africa as a result of the significant slowdown in demand in the rest of the world, which has caused a huge decline in demand for African exports, IMF officials said.

"The repercussion of the financial crisis will be deeply felt in Africa," Diby said, adding that the impact of the crisis is characterized by the emerging facts including what he called "the scarcity of direct investment fund."

Echoing Diby's view, Tanzanian Minister of Finance Mustafa Mkulo said: "If it was not for the economic crisis, the (Tanzanian) economy was robust. We are doing very well. In fact, we had a sustainable 7-percent growth rate for more than three years."

Underscoring the extent of the challenges, the IMF issued a new economic forecast on Wednesday, projecting that the world economy would shrink by 1.3 percent this year, the first decline since World War II, in what the IMF called "by far the deepest global recession since the Great Depression."

Hurt by the global economic recession, growth in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to decline from just under 5.5 percent in 2008to 1.5 percent in 2009 before recovering to about 3.75 percent in 2010 -- still below its pre-crisis level, the IMF says in its latest regional outlook for the continent.

Last year, Tanzania registered a growth rate of 7.4 percent, and this year it had projected a growth rate of 7.8 percent, Mkulo said. "These figures were confirmed by the IMF."

"But unfortunately, six months ago it (the financial crisis) happened," he said. "It deterred our economic growth efforts."

The impact of the global economic meltdown has led to a drastic drop in Zambia's export earnings and household incomes, and increased unemployment, especially in the mining sector, said Musokotwane.

"There are more than 12,000 workers (who) have been laid off in the mining sector," he noted. "Zambia's currency, the Kwacha, has also depreciated sharply because of the slowdown in financial direct investment."

"Demand for African exports has weakened and prices for most commodity exports have fallen," said Antoinette Sayeh, director of the IMF's African department, at a press briefing on Friday. "Tighter global credit and investor risk aversion have led to a reversal of portfolio inflows, are discouraging foreign investment, and have made trade finance more costly."