The FINANCIAL — On June 18, 2018, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund concluded the Article IV consultation and completed the third reviews under the Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility arrangements for the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. Completion of this review enables the disbursement of SDR 96.786 million.
The three-year ECF/EFF arrangements with a total access of SDR 650.4 million (about US$917.8 million or 100 percent of Côte d’Ivoire’s quota) were approved by the IMF Executive Board on December 12, 2016.
According to IMF, GDP growth is estimated at about 7¾ percent in 2017 despite the fall in cocoa prices. Inflation remained subdued at about 1 percent. The medium-term outlook is for continued strong economic activity with robust growth and low inflation. Risks to the forecast are broadly balanced.
The Ivoirian authorities have adopted a comprehensive program of economic reforms to achieve a sustainable balance of payments position, inclusive growth, and poverty reduction by investing in priority infrastructure and social projects. These objectives are being supported by the IMF program arrangements. The program is anchored on the convergence of the budget deficit to the West African and Economic Monetary Union norm of 3 percent of GDP by 2019, to preserve public debt sustainability and support the regional international reserves pool. Fiscal discipline is underpinned by mobilizing revenue and spending prioritization in order to create fiscal space for priority infrastructure and social projects. Implementing their program, the authorities have pursued structural reforms to further strengthen the revenue administration and public financial management and adopted measures for fiscal consolidation while protecting priority spending. They are also further strengthening the financial system.
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