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Gambia News : Top World Bank, IMF Officials Thumb up Gambia’s Prospects
“The Gambia
has reached the completion point for the debt relief
initiative,” declared Messrs Madini M. Tall and Mr. Tsidi
Tsikata, World Bank Country Director for The Gambia and IMF
Mission Chief For The Gambia respectively. The duo made this
declaration yesterday shortly after meeting with President
Jammeh at State House in Banjul.
Mr. Tall of
the World Bank revealed that his discussion with the Gambian
leader revolved around the issue of Gambia reaching the
completion point, adding that there is going to be a board
meeting in Washington in December, to declare completion
point for The Gambia.
According
to him, he also discussed with the president the donor round
table conference which, he added, is coming up in two weeks’
time in Geneva to discuss the Poverty Reduction Strategy for
The Gambia and mobilize international support.
He
indicated that the World Bank is in the middle of
replenishment round which, according to him, is the next
circle for resource mobilization for not only The Gambia but
for all African countries once completion is attained.
He further
observed that the micro-economic environment of The Gambia
is sound, noting that The Gambia has a programme with the
IMF and has been able to produce very good poverty reduction
strategy.
“I think a
lot of work has been done to increase investment climate in
this country which will in turn contribute significantly
towards attracting not only donor cementing for The Gambia
but international cementing from private sector. I think it
will take a combination of not only aid but also trade,
foreign investment and debt management to make sure the
country is really on the path to prosperity,” he said.
For his
part, Mr. Tsikata indicated that his discussion with
President Jammeh among other things centered on the debt
relief for The Gambia and an IMF-supported programme called
PRGF.
He said: “I
think that in terms of specific target and measures that The
Gambia was required to undertake, the three years has been
satisfied. It has taken a long time to get there. You may
recall that The Gambia reached the decision point in
December of 2000, but we believe that The Gambia has made
enough progress now for us to negotiate and recommend to our
board that The Gambia get to the completion point.”
Asked about
the prospects for any debt relief or cancellation for The
Gambia, he said: “There is something called the MDRI
(Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative), which entails the
cancellation of the significant parts of The Gambia’s debt
to the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the IMF,
and that will be part of the relief that The Gambia will get
and there is also some relief from bilateral creditors
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- I am very impress for the good effort the gambia government is doing regarding the completion of debts. I think to be honest this government is trying a lot not only settling debts with the World Bank, but also interms of nation building, bringing the nation into a modern state that a Gambian can be proud of. I am here in Euroupe not long time just about two years and i know the state of development i left in the gambia and i believe if it continues like that, in the next ten years there will be a great change.
Now, what we have to do is to fight for the rampant curruption and misuse of public funds in all sectors. If this is minimise, we will able to achieve our goals.
(Posted on November 12, 2007, 4:17 PM Ousman Baldeh)
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