International institutions assess economic, financial needs

Missions from various international institutions have travelled to Guinea-Bissau to assess its economic and financial performance and the support it requires, Portuguese media reported. The teams were sent separately by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UMEOA) and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Portuguese news agency, LUSA, reported on Tuesday that the IMF and UMEOA missions had expressed their institutions' readiness to help Guinea-Bissau deal with a crippling financial crisis, but both linked aid to tighter supervision and management of funds. Similar concerns have been voiced before. In a 13 June report on Guinea-Bissau to the UN Security Council Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that the management of public finances remained a major preoccupation of the international community. "There is consensus that no progress can be made in the economic sphere," Annan said, "until the imbalance in supply and demand has been corrected and effective procedures and mechanisms are in place to ensure the country's financial viability." In the meantime, the various missions currently in the country are looking at ways to help the West African nation. Portuguese radio reported that ECOSOC's Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Guinea-Bissau had meetings last week with representatives of political parties represented in parliament. The Ad Hoc group was also scheduled to meet UN officials, civil society organisations, and donor representatives. Its mandate is to build on a still fragile peace in Guinea-Bissau, help prevent a relapse into conflict and draw up a long-term programme of support that addresses gaps between relief and development, according to ECOSOC. Guinea-Bissau emerged in May 1999 from an 11-month conflict that ended in the overthrow of its then president. Prime Minister Almara Nhasse told Diario de Noticias this week that the country's people "continue to feel the effects of the 1998 war" and that Guinea-Bissau had received no economic support from the international community since the conflict. "Guinea-Bissau's major problem is financial," Nhasse told the Portuguese daily. He said internal revenue was not enough to cover 30 percent of the country's needs. Priority sectors for his government were energy, fisheries, agriculture and tourism, he said. However, to benefit from its fish stocks, for example, the state needed to be able to monitor its maritime zone to prevent pirates from fishing in it. It also needed fishing boats, of which it had none.