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afrol News, 31 March - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a US$ 365 million loan to Côte d'Ivoire. The loan is earmarked to reduce poverty in the country, but there are strict conditions stringed to its disbursement. Côte d'Ivoire has to carry out a set of structural reforms the government already has agreed to. According to the acting IMF chair Anne Krueger, the Ivorian government had to comply with its newly presented poverty reduction programme to achieve disbursements. This IMF-approved programme was "an important step toward achieving the goal of poverty reduction in the context of sustained economic growth and macroeconomic stability," Krueger said in a statement. - The policies to be pursued in the first year of the program are expected to begin to lay the foundation for sustained growth by focusing on macroeconomic stabilisation measures and key structural reforms, Krueger said. "Particular attention will be paid to better-focused and stronger action in the priority sectors of health, education, security and basic infrastructure, and on legal and regulatory reforms to create a business environment in which private enterprise can flourish." This is also in terms with the recently approved national budget for 2002. On the structural front, the IMF expected "the resumption of the privatisation programme and the reform of the financial and energy sectors," according to Krueger. "The emphasis on administrative and fiscal decentralisation should improve the efficiency and targeting of public services delivery, particularly in rural areas, and deepen the participation of beneficiaries in the formulation of public policies; but care would need to be exercised to ensure that fiscal discipline is maintained." Bohoum Bouabré, the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance, earlier in March had written a "Letter of Intent" to the IMF, where he assured that his government's economic policy objectives over the next three years was "to consolidate the public finances, enhance transparency in financial management and governance, and revive structural reforms." Bouabré also assured his government "is determined to strengthen and improve its poverty reduction policy." In a "Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies", the Ministry of Finance also outlined a large number of structural reforms the government was to embark on. This included the privatisation of various state companies within banking, agriculture, natural resources and printing. The government further was to "consolidate the liberalisation" of the dominant coffee/cocoa sector, continue its policy of price liberalisation, rehabilitate the electricity sector, take further measures to combat corruption and fraud, etc. After the return of democracy and political stabilisation in Côte d'Ivoire last year, international funds again have started to flow to the country. The World Bank and the IMF suspended lending to Côte d'Ivoire in December 1998, claiming corruption and mismanagement. The government of President Laurent Gbagbo, although considered leftist, has obediently complied with all IMF demands. The country is moving from years of recession into a moderate economic growth.
Sources: Based on IMF, Ivorian govt. and afrol archives
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