IMF approves US $7 million

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed a review of Chad's performance under a three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement, a news release from IMF said on Monday. It also agreed to extend the commitment period of the arrangement to December 6, 2003, and to grant Chad a waiver for the non-observance of one performance criterion, making it possible for the country to receive up to about US $7 million. The PRGF arrangement, under which the IMF agreed to lend Chad about US $48 million, was approved on 7 January 2000. The amount was later increased to about US $62 million, the release said. So far the country has received about US $42 million. "Chad's economic performance has been good so far in 2002," Anne Krueger, First Deputy Managing Director, said. "Economic growth has been very strong, aided by the implementation of the [Chad-Cameroon] oil pipeline project, inflation has declined as food production has normalized and foreign reserves have risen despite low cotton prices." Krueger said Chad's large fiscal and current account deficits did not represent a risk as they reflected the acceleration of antipoverty spending and the construction of the pipeline, which will take Chadian oil to the Cameroonian port of Kribi. The deficits were expected to narrow sharply in 2004 when the country began receiving oil revenues, she added. "With oil production expected to come on stream in early 2004, the challenge facing Chad is to put all necessary arrangements in place on time to ensure an efficient and transparent use of oil revenue for poverty reduction," Krueger said.