Government, IMF in funding negotiations

The ministry of finance is exploring ways of cutting the public sector wage bill in order to secure a post-conflict funding agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday. The IMF has recommended that the wage bill, put at 116 billion francs (about US $163 million) this year, be cut to 104 billion CFA (US $146 million) next year and 102 billion CFA (US $143.6 million) in 2002, it quoted Finance Minister Mathias Dion as saying. The government was currently conducting a census of the civil service to weed out those staff members who were drawing a salary but not working, the report added. The government has drawn up a 515 billion CFA three-year programme to rebuild the country after signing a ceasefire agreement with rebel militias in December. The key points of this were poverty reduction, tackling HIV-AIDS, rehabilitating the economy, and rebuilding health and social services destroyed in the civil war, Reuters reported. The government has said it can provide 200 billion CFA itself and appealed to the international donor community to finance the rest, once a broad funding agreement is reached with the IMF. The ministry of finance is due to resume negotiations with an IMF team in Brazzaville on Tuesday 8 August, Reuters added.