IMF mission arrives in Seychelles for review |23 October 2013

The Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment has welcomed the recent arrival of a planned mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Seychelles.
 
The mission is in the country to conduct their eighth and final review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement.
 
The Executive Board of the IMF approved a three-year EFF arrangement for Seychelles in December 2009 with a loan equivalent to R19.8 million. The arrangement was extended by one year in December 2012 to support the country’s economic reform programme, with further access to R6.6 million.

The six-person IMF team, led by mission chief Marshall Mills, arrived on October 17 and is due to meet the Minister for Finance, Trade and Investment Pierre Laporte, the Central Bank Governor Caroline Abel, and other high-level government officials.

In addition, the mission will hold review meetings with the private sector and the donor community before departing on Thursday October 31.

“The IMF mission currently visiting Seychelles is reviewing the programme’s June 2013 targets,” said Elizabeth Agathine, director general of External Finance Management at the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment.

“The mission will evaluate the progress we have made towards meeting the programme’s structural benchmarks thus far,” she said.

The IMF mission will discuss their review findings at a joint press conference in partnership with the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment and the Central Bank of Seychelles before the end of the mission.