<\/p>\n
The agreement covers the sixth review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the third review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Approval by the IMF Executive Board and implementation of agreed prior actions would bring total financing under both arrangements to about $142 million.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Gambian economy is projected to grow by 5.1% in both 2026 and 2027, supported by construction, tourism and remittances.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Inflation declined from 7% in April to 6.1% in September but remained above the Central Bank of The Gambia\u2019s 5% target. \u201cThe Gambian economy remains resilient despite external uncertainties and domestic energy supply disruptions,\u201d IMF Mission Chief Eva Jenkner said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The country met all eight quantitative performance criteria for the end of June and three of four indicative targets. The tax-revenue target was missed by a small margin.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s 2027 Budget targets an overall deficit of about 1% of gross domestic product.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IMF called for stronger revenue collection, expenditure controls, cash management and timely clearance of arrears while protecting priority social spending.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Recent electricity disruptions highlighted financial and operational problems at the National Water and Electricity Company.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Emergency government support helped clear arrears owed to regional electricity suppliers and restore generation capacity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Further reforms should reduce operational losses, strengthen revenue collection and gradually introduce cost-recovery tariffs while protecting vulnerable households.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Central Bank should maintain a prudent, data-driven monetary policy to return inflation sustainably towards the 5% target.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IMF also called for exchange-rate flexibility, adequate international reserves and close monitoring of banks\u2019 exposure to government debt.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Progress included partial privatisation of Gambia Telecommunications Cellular Company Limited and the National Audit Office\u2019s clearance of longstanding audit backlogs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, the IMF urged the government to operationalise the Anti-Corruption Commission, strengthen Central Bank independence and end quasi-fiscal activities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Climate reforms include stronger groundwater management and the integration of resilience measures into coastal-zoning regulations. \u201cThe IMF remains committed to supporting the authorities\u2019 reform efforts through financing, policy advice and technical assistance,\u201d Jenkner said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–IMF\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33799,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-49772","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The Gambia could receive an additional $28 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after reaching a staff-level agreement on reviews of programmes supporting economic reforms and climate resilience.","published_date":"","news_description":"The Gambia could receive an additional $28 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after reaching a staff-level agreement on reviews of programmes supporting economic reforms and climate resilience.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49774,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49772\/revisions\/49774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}