Africa-Press – Gambia. The International Monetary Fund and Gambian authorities reached a staff-level agreement that would give the West African nation access to part of $100.9 million in funding approved in 2024, the IMF said in a statement.
Subject to approval by the IMF board, the agreement on the third review of the programme would allow the disbursement of $16.8 million, and a separate staff-level agreement would give potential access to $65 million to enhance resilience to climate change, the statement said.
At the conclusion of the discussions, the IMF issued the following statement: “Growth is estimated at 6 percent for 2024, supported by tourism and construction sectors. Tourist arrivals continued to recover, reaching a level close to the pre-pandemic peak levels. Remittance inflows also strengthened. Inflation declined to a single digit (9.1 percent) in March while remaining above the central bank’s medium-term objective of 5 percent.
“Fiscal performance in 2024 was weaker than anticipated, largely due to unbudgeted spending pressures, transfers linked to earmarked revenues and faster execution of donor financed capital projects, despite strong revenue collection performance. Current spending largely exceeded initial plans as transfers of third-party revenue had not been reflected in the budget and there have been pressures from unbudgeted support to the National Water and Electricity Corporation (NAWEC) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit. Similarly, donor financed capital projects continued at a high pace. As a result, the overall deficit exceeded projections, reaching 3.8 percent of GDP. In addition, about 0.4 percent of GDP of unpaid commitments were carried over to 2025.
“The authorities remain committed to meeting the programme’s targets and structural reforms agenda, albeit with some delays. Quantitative objectives under the ECF-supported programme have been largely met.”
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