An upsurge in violence in the Central African Republic has hit its GDP, which is likely to grow at 4.5 percent this year rather than 5.2 percent as forecast in July, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

Next year’s GDP was projected at 5.0 percent, down from an initial forecast of 5.5 percent, while annual inflation was set to rise to 5.1 percent this year as against an earlier forecast of 4.0 percent, the IMF said in a statement.

“Deterioration in the security environment … took a toll on economic activity,” said the IMF’s Samir Jahjah at the end of a mission to the country for a first review of a $115.8 million three-year loan facility agreed in July.

Clashes between militia groups in late October killed 25 people, including six gendarmes caught in an ambush.

The country has been plagued by inter-religious and inter-communal conflict since 2013 when the mainly Seleka rebels seized power, prompting reprisals from the anti-Balaka militia, many of whose fighters are nominally Christian.

The level of violence fell after an election in February that brought President Faustin-Archange Touadéra to power but rose again in October.