The Office of the President has announced that the Executivce Board of the International Monetry Fund has approved The Gambia’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) programme in an amount equivalent to SDR 14M or about US$21M.

Below we reproduce the full text of the press release from the Office of the President:

The Office of the President wishes to inform the general public that the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has on Wednesday 21st of February 2007, approved The Gambia’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) programme in an amount equivalent to SDR 14 million (about US$21 million). The three years PRGF is for the period 2007-2009 and is based on the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies and the Technical Memorandum of Understanding, agreed between The Gambia Government and the IMF. The first disbursement under the PRGF will be equivalent to SDR 2 million (about US$3 million). Furthermore, the IMF Board has granted The Gambia additional interim assistance under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in an amount equivalent to SDR 2 million (about US$3 million).

The Gambia authorities have been commended by the IMF for successfully stabilising the economy by maintaining tight monetary policies that stabilised the Dalasi and reduced inflation to single digit. In addition, the board noted that due to the prudent macro-economic policies and increased external financing, real GDP growth during the last three years averaged 6 percent. In the same vein, the board commended the Central Bank for stepping up its internal controls, while at the same time observing that the introduction of IFMIS will greatly enhance public financial management.

While enumerating the challenges facing The Gambia which include widespread poverty, vulnerability to exogenous shocks and a heavy public debt burden, the IMF board indicated that the PRGF will help address these challenges. The Board also advised that there is a need to maintain fiscal discipline as this is considered to be a major challenge in attaining the programme’s objectives.

In outlining the attendant benefits of the programme, the IMF indicated that “the proposed policies and external debt relief are expected to help The Gambia achieve debt sustainability. Satisfactory implementation of the PRGF-supported programme for at least six months is one of the pre-requisites for The Gambia to reach completion point under the enhanced initiative for heavily indebted poor countries and to become eligible for assistance under the multilateral debt relief initiative. The authorities have indicated their commitment to fully implement the programme.”