The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) has approved the disbursement of US$2.3 million to The Gambia government
to support
programmes and structural reforms necessary to reduce the high rate of poverty
and boost economic growth in the country.
The disbursement is following the
IMF executive board’s completion of the first review of the
government’s economic performance under a programme supported by the Extended
Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement, according to a press
release from the IMF-Gambia office on Thursday.
This last disbursement makes the total disbursements
under the arrangement to about US$16.2 million.
In May 2012, the executive board of the IMF approved a
three-year ECF arrangement with an amount equivalent to about US$28.3 million
for The Gambia to support the government's economic programme.
Economy still
recovering
“The Gambian economy is still recovering from the
severe drought of 2011,” Naoyuki Shinohara, deputy managing director and
acting-chair of the IMF, said following the Board’s discussion of The Gambia.
The government’s policies and the support of the
international donor community played an important role in enabling the recovery
in agriculture to take hold, he noted.
However, he said there are downside risks related to The
Gambia’s economic recovery such as the high domestic debt burden, weaknesses in
the balance of payments, and inflationary pressures.
The domestic debt of the government increased to D11.3
billion, as at end-March 2013.
“High public indebtedness continues to pose risks to
macroeconomic stability and significant costs to the budget,” Mr Shinohara affirmed.
