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Gambia News : Gambia economy grew by 6% in 2008
Leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to the Gambia,
Mr. Robert Powell, has said that although “The economy of The Gambia
grew by about 6% in 2008, economic growth is expected to be weaker in
2009 in the face of a significant fall in receipts from tourism and
remittances resulting from the global slowdown."
He made the declaration in a press statement, released here Friday,
at the end of the IMF mission to The Gambia on "Progress Under the
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)-Supported Programme".
According
to the release, the IMF team visited Banjul from 8-21 May to assess the
progress made under the government’s economic programme supported by
the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF).
The press
statement said the IMF mission held meetings with the Minister of
Finance and Economic Affairs, Mousa Gibril Bala-Gaye, Governor of the
Central Bank of The Gambia, Momodou Bamba Saho, other senior government
officials, legislators, the private sector, and members of the donor
community during the mission.
The IMF team said a strong rebound
in agricultural production in 2008 was supporting a recovery in
manufacturing and trade-related services this year, and that growth in
2009 was expected to be about 31/2%, which is higher than the regional
average.
Inflation is also expected to remain under control, the monetary expert said.
“The
Gambia has continued to make progress under the IMF-supported
programme. In the period up to March 2009, government revenues have
achieved the budget targets, and government borrowing has been
contained within planned levels," Mr. Powell said.
"The central
bank has also achieved its target for international reserves, following
sharp falls at the end of 2008,” the statement read.
It said,
however, that “Even after the debt relief provided recently under the
HIPC and Multilateral Debt Relief initiatives, Gambia’s external debt
remains high.
"It remains critical, therefore, to establish a
medium-term debt management strategy that sets clear goals for reducing
debt ratios further. This requires limiting external borrowing to
highly concessional loans, and stepping up efforts to seek grant
finance to support implementation."
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