Financial bodies’ word on our economy assures partners |26 February 2013

The principal secretary for economic policy and planning Bertrand Belle said this in an interview when an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission met Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment as well as Central Bank of Seychelles officials including MFTI Minister Pierre Laporte and central bank governor Caroline Abel.

The IMF team here is headed by mission head Carol Baker and comprised Alexander Culius, Tobias Roy, Nkunde Mwase and Arto Kovane.

“When the IMF team come down and assess our policies and say we are on track and doing well it is good for us for a number of reasons:
“For example in 2008 when we defaulted on our debts and asked for debt forgiveness from the international community.

“These people who gave us money and then said we do not need to pay them back the entire amount we owed them need to know we are not misusing the money but rather taking what we could have paid them to develop the economy so that we do better in the long term so we can pay the amount, for example the 50% we still owe them.”
Mr Belle said other creditors who are offering new loans also need to feel comforted and ready to loan us by virtue of us showing we are up to a certain standard and we are taking the appropriate measures that will enable us to pay them back.

He said the team are here for the seventh review on the extended fund facility and Article 4 formation.
“They are here to see if we have done what we had said we would do by December 31, 2012 to see that we are on track and the Article 4 review mission is something they do with all IMF members whether you are on a programme or not,” said Mr Belle.

He said under Article 4 the IMF checks whether there are any short term or medium term issues which demand addressing that would otherwise put the economy at risk.