IMF expects staff visit to Gabon in February despite no formal request for programme
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The International Monetary Fund expects to conduct a staff visit to Gabon in February as part of ongoing work with the authorities, but has not received a formal request for an IMF programme, an IMF spokesperson said on Friday.
Gabon has become increasingly reliant on regional capital markets to meet financing needs, but investor appetite for its debt “has weakened substantially”, Fitch said in December when it downgraded the country’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating.
Thierry Minko, appointed finance and economy minister at the start of the year, said earlier this week the government would implement an economic growth programme “with support” from the IMF, and that technical and institutional discussions with the Fund had intensified. The IMF spokesperson said Gabon’s new administration has stepped up engagement following this month’s government reshuffle.
The IMF said it is still awaiting a formal request despite the authorities’ stated intention to work toward an IMF-backed programme. The Fund said it expects the February staff visit to assess macroeconomic and fiscal developments and to discuss the authorities’ policy and reform plans.
In October, Gabon’s then vice president Alexandre Barro Chambrier told Reuters the government was not considering a debt restructuring or reprofiling, and said the country was rebasing GDP calculations, which would make the debt-to-GDP ratio more favourable.
