IMF approves post-conflict assistance

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a loan of some US $2 million for urgent post-conflict reconstruction and economic recovery in Guinea-Bissau, IMF Deputy Managing Director Shigemitsu Sugisaki said on Friday. “The authorities have made commendable progress in recovering from the civil conflict of 1998 and early 1999, but the post-conflict normalisation was not yet complete,” he said. His statement called for faster demobilisation of combatants, a cut in military spending as well as timely donor help to rebuild health and educational facilities. The IMF encouraged the authorities in Guinea-Bissau to make “early progress in finalising a broad-based three-year programme of structural adjustment and poverty reduction that could be supported under the Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and provide the basis for assistance under the enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries”, he added.