Africa-Press – Cape verde. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made around US$80 billion available to Africa since 2020, having financial programs in 30 countries, including Portuguese-speaking countries, with the exception of Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
IMF/Forecasts: Fund has lent 80 billion since 2020 and has 30 financial programs in Africa
“The recent four-year crisis has highlighted the IMF’s role as an essential component of Africa’s safety net, particularly for countries with limited reserves; demand for concessional assistance has increased dramatically between 2020 and 2022,” reads a special report on the African continent, released within the scope of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, taking place in Marrakesh.
“The IMF has provided policy advice and financing of $45 billion [€42.4 billion] since the start of the pandemic, much of it on highly concessional terms, as well as $34 billion [€32 billion ] in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocations, totaling around 80 billion dollars [75 billion euros]”, adds the document with the title ‘Pursuing Stronger Growth and Resilience’, in which it is highlighted that 30 of the 54 African countries are under a financial assistance program.
This year alone, the IMF has already disbursed 3.8 billion dollars, around 3.5 billion euros, with six countries (Kenya, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Seychelles and Senegal) with approved programs, since December 2022 , within the scope of the new Resilience and Sustainability Mechanism, designed to help the most fragile countries deal with climate shocks.
Furthermore, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Conakry, Malawi and South Sudan received US$358 million, the equivalent of 337 million euros, from the new Food Shocks Window, created by the IMF to help countries face difficulties in guaranteeing food security, a concern heightened by the cut in cereal supplies from Ukraine and Russia since February last year.
In the special report released today, the IMF warns that “the ability to continue lending at these high levels depends on the availability of concessional resources” and assumes that “this is a challenge”, defending more contributions from IMF member countries to the Fund of Poverty Reduction and Growth.
“Helping the continent make further progress will ensure a more resilient and prosperous global economy for all,” the report concludes.
For More News And Analysis About Cape verde Follow Africa-Press
