Press conference: Slowly slowly catchy monkey.19 Jul 2019 08:33
Clément Mouamba hosted a press conference on 18 July in Brazzaville to try to situate the views on the benefits of the macroeconomic reform programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a week after it was signed.
According to the head of government, other partners have mobilized in support of the country, including the African Development Bank, which will provide 262 billion CFA aid, the World Bank about 171 billion CFA and France more than 89 billion, in more than $259 billion in imf credit.
These envelopes are intended, the Prime Minister said, to support his government's efforts to restore macroeconomic balances, clean up the state's finances and, above all, to restore the level of the country's foreign exchange reserves in the Central Bank level.
The hardest part is the implementation of the crisis exit reforms adopted in the agreement, admitted the speaker. "The approval of this program by the IMF Board of Directors marks the culmination of a long process of negotiations. Its success depends on the continuation of the efforts already made by all Congolese," he said.
Continuing on the issue of reforms, Mouamba said the programme will strengthen the government's ability to invest in infrastructure and social issues. For this, much of the first disbursement (80%) should be allocated to funding hospitals, schools, access to water and electricity, including 'Lisungui' social safety net programmes. "The agreement certainly cannot solve all the problems, but it is our agreement, let us support it," said the Prime Minister.
Negotiations with creditor traders
He also raised the thorny issue of managing external and domestic debt, which currently amounts to CFA 5580 billion. In this amount, he continued, there is the domestic debt of economic operators estimated at 1700 billion CFA francs and that of traders about 965 billion CFA.
While the government has been able to reach compromises with some creditors on debt rescheduling, like China, the treatment of domestic and traders' debt is not concluded. To do this, the executive promised to initiate discussions on the subject with traders before the end of the year.
In practice, traders withdraw enough crude oil to get a refund. A payment method that the executive wishes to change at the end of the round of negotiations. "That's why the government has requested a bona fide discussion with trading partners. This is a major point for the agreement to run normally," Mouamba said
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