Karim,

Thanks for sharing this piece. True, the economy does need to grow. 
Inflation needs to be stemmed, and incurring debts need to be reduced. All 
that is good. But what really needs growth in The Gambia and around Africa 
are the people, ideas, political institutions. The IMF is not interested in 
those things. They are only interested in guaging which poor country is 
moving toward being able to repay its debts with killer interest. A growing 
economy and reduced inflation might make the lives of poor Gambians just a 
little easier, but it does not contitute genuine progress or development. 
Development must be people-centered. You cannot develop a country without 
developing the people of that country. And you cannot develop the people of 
a country without allowing the creativity and innovation of the people to 
grow. Develop the people or allow the people to develop themselves freely, 
and the people will develop their nation.

Sadly, every single word of praise from the IMF, the World Bank and even the 
PIU is loudly touted by dictatorships and harshly thrust in the face of the 
people as signs of great progress and development. I am sure our 
state-controlled media are having a field day these days. What with all the 
praise singing from both outside and inside directed at stoking the flabby 
ego of Joe's Lord of the Flies?

Baba


>From: ABDOUKARIM SANNEH <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list              
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Afrol News-Gambia's economy to grow by 7%,IMF predicts
>Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:30:53 +0100
>
>Gambia's economy to grow by 7%, IMF predicts   afrol News, 26 June - The 
>Gambia's economy is expected to reach the 7% growth in 2007, the 
>International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts. This report is a far cry from 
>the previous one.
>   This is contained in a report by the IMF's mission to the West African 
>country. The team that had talked to officials of all walks of life in the 
>country, including the donor partners, civil societies and the government, 
>is headed by Mr. Tsidi Tsikata.
>
>The mission opened weeks of discussions on the first review under The 
>Gambia's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement 
>(2007-2009), and completion point under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor 
>Countries (HIPC) Initiative.
>
>The government's "success in sustaining macroecnomic stability over the 
>last few years has contributed to a substantial inflow of foreign direct 
>investment and vibrant economic activity. Growth is projected to reach 7 
>percent in 2007, led by strong performance in theconstruction, 
>telecommunications and tourism sectors."
>
>Despite the projected growth, consumer inflation, which is mainly fuelled 
>by sharp increases in the international prices of some key imported 
>commodities, has been on the rise since January 2007. It reached an annual 
>rate of 6.7% in May.
>
>However, the strengthening of the local currency, the Dalasi, against major 
>international currencies in recent months has resulted to a surge in 
>foreign exchange inflow and is expected to help lower inflation to about 
>5%by December.
>
>The Central Bank officials assured the IMF mission of their readiness to 
>closely monitor and take appropriate action inflation so that it can be 
>contained to the lowest single digit levels - a strategy that gets the 
>mission's endorsement.
>
>"Fiscal performance has been strong in the first half of the year, 
>reflecting higher than-expected revenues and lower-than-programmed 
>expenditures. The introduction of the Integrated Financial Management 
>Information System at the beginning of 2007 has helped enforce budget 
>discipline and strengthen overall public financial management.
>
>The mission encouraged the authorities to continue their prudent fiscal 
>policies with a view to reducing domestic debt and facilitating the gradual 
>reduction in domestic interest rates," the IMF report said.
>
>"The mission commended the authorities for making solid progress in 
>implementing structural reforms critical for progress toward achieving the 
>Millennium Development Goals. Reforms under the PRGF-supported program span 
>the areas of public finance management, central bank governance and 
>operational independence, and financial deepening. In addition, they 
>include steps to improve statistics in order to better inform economic 
>policy making and the general public."
>
>The Gambia has also been commended for recording remarkable progress toward 
>meeting almost all the conditions for the completion point under the 
>enhanced HIPC Initiative.
>
>However, the mission reported that condition related to privatizing public 
>assets in the groundnut sub-sector has not been met. The IMF and World Bank 
>will engage the government on discussions on reforms in the groundnut 
>sector in the coming weeks.
>
>"The mission welcomed the authorities' plans to strictly limit new debt 
>accumulation, including after the granting of debt relief under the 
>enhanced HIPC and Multilateral DebtRelief Initiatives. The authorities 
>noted that new borrowing would be only on highly concessional terms, and 
>effective debt management should benefit from the planned adoption of a new 
>debt strategy."
>
>
>   By staff
>
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