The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday said that based on its recent review Mali was entitled t o request for about US$ 3.1 million from it.
The outcome of the second review of Mali’s economic performance, under a progr amme supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) which entitles the governme n t to request for the bout US$3.1 million, means that the total disbursements to M ali under the ECF was about US$ 34.1 million in less than two years.
The Executive Board also approved Malian authorities’ request for a modification of performance criteria related to the domestic financing of the budget for yea r ending December 2009.
The ECF arrangement with Mali was approved on May 28, 2008, for an amount of abo ut US$ 45.7 million. The review on Mali also indicated that the global meltdown h as limited impact on the West African state.
The global recession has had only a limited impact on Mali. Its economic perf ormance in 2009 has been good, with solid GDP growth and low inflation,â? said M urilo Portugal, IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair at the conclusion o f the Executive Board’s discussion on Mali’s ECF.
â?Buoyant gold exports have led to a greater-than-projected improvement of the external current account deficit, and the balance of payments has also benefited
from large privatization revenues and the SDR allocations,â? Poertugal said.
Though Portugal stated that Maliâ?s 2009 programme had remained on track, he no netheless mentioned that the country remained vulnerable to climatic and other external shocks.
According to him, Malian authorities remain committed to prudent economic polici es and their draft 2010 budget provides for an adequate foundation for continued progress.
Maintaining sound macroeconomic policies and further strengthening the struct ural reform effort will buttress programme objectives of economic growth close t o 5% and a further decline of inflation. The structural reform programme for 2010 will focus on public financial management and the banking sector,â? he said.
He also stated that it would be important to ensure that the revenue from the pr ivatization of the state telecom company, SOTELMA, equivalent to 4% of the GDP, b e used for investments on non-recurrent expenditures that promote poverty reduct i on and growth.
In this regard, the authoritiesâ? intention to keep the underlying fiscal de ficit, excluding privatization-financed spending to about 1% of the GDP, is welc o me,â? Portugal concluded.
The ECF is an arrangement that has replaced the Poverty Reduction and Growth Fac ility (PRGF) as the Fundâ?s main tool for medium-term financial support to low-i ncome countries by providing a higher level of access to financing, more concess i onal terms, enhanced flexibility in programme design features, and more focused s treamlined conditionality.
Financing under the ECF currently carries a zero interest rate, with a grace per iod of five-and-a-half years, and a final maturity of 10 years. The Fund reviews
the level of interest rates for all concessional facilities every two years.
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