Government urged to draw up viable recovery programme

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB) have urged the Central African Republic (CAR) to draw up a viable social and economic recovery programme that would greatly improve the living conditions of its people. "The World Bank is currently keen on pushing the CAR government to lay down an attractive programme," Abdoulaye Seck, a World Bank official, said on Monday on state-owned Radio Centrafrique. A delegation from the three institutions, which arrived in the capital, Bangui, on Sunday for a two-week mission, made the appeal following a meeting on Monday with Finance Minister Jean Pierre Lebouder. The call for an emergency economic and social recovery programme follows a similar appeal on 27 December 2003 by the speaker of the National Transitional Council, Nicolas Tiangaye. The council is the country's law advisory body. Tiangaye had made the appeal after the council unanimously rejected the government’s proposed recovery programme in October 2003. The council said the government had not taken into account recommendations made during the national reconciliation forum held from September to October 2003. The council did not examine a revised programme submitted to it in December that year because the government of Prime Minister Abel Goumba had been dismissed on 11 December. "The priority of the government is the laying down of a programme that takes into account the needs of the population," Tiangaye said on 27 December, when he closed a council session. The visit by the delegates of the three monetary institutions follows IMF approval in November 2003 for the resumption of talks with the CAR. "We are not here to start negotiations," Mark Levis, an IMF official said on Monday. He said that the mission was in the country to discuss "the political orientations to solve the country’s economic and financial difficulties". Regarding the date of the beginning of talks with the IMF Levis said, "The calendar will depend on the CAR authorities". He added that a lot of effort was still required in sectors such as public finance, anti-corruption measures, good governance and structural adjustment. Seck said that a larger mission would tour Bangui in February. The current mission is in Bangui as the government struggles to pay salaries for civil servants. The government began paying October 2003 arrears on Thursday, after securing loans from local banks. The talks between the CAR, the IMF and the World Bank were suspended in October 2002, a few days before the signing of a global agreement for aid, due to an incursion into Bangui by rebels loyal to Francois Bozize. On 15 March 2003, Bozize overthrew President Ange-Felix Patasse and soon afterwards embarked on diplomatic campaign for the recognition of his administration and for financial aid. "We express our wish that the CAR and the Bretton Woods institutions sign a post-conflict agreement during spring and a more global accord within the framework of the Very Poor and Highly Indebted States Programme later this year," French Ambassador Jean Pierre Destouesse, told Bozize on Saturday on behalf of the diplomatic corps. France was reported to have played a key role for the reintegration of its former colony in the IMF.