C.A.R: IMF boss Lagarde in Bangui to assess recovery reforms

IMF’s Director-General Christine Lagarde landed in Central African Republic’s capital Bangui on Tuesday as she kicked off her mini-tour that will include visits to Uganda and Mauritius.

Lagarde met with President Faustin Touadéra’s government, with her top objective being to ascertain that the country’s economic recovery reform plans are well underway.

Belgium has promised a 2.2 million USD donation to C.A.R which is trying to recover from a political crisis to further finance its recovery plans. At the same time, the IMF has granted Bangui an expanded credit facility of nearly 112 million USD over a period of three years.

“A team from the International Monetary Fund will come to Bangui, to work with other teams from the Finance Ministry, under the authority of the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic to see whether the commitments that have been made in the management of public finances, in terms of resource mobilization and allocation of public finances to valid projects have been respected,” Lagarde said.

Central African Republic’s growth stood at 4.5% in 2016 according to IMF numbers.

C.A.R’s upturn in economic activity began in 2014 but was interrupted by the resurgence of cross-community violence in late 2015. The worsening security environment held back the GDP growth to an estimated 4.1% compared with an initial target of 5.5%.