(Washington) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Friday an agreement to lend 88.3 million dollars to Malawi, to help it face the food crisis.
Posted at 6:29 p.m.
“Malawi is the first low-income country to reach an agreement” via this new food aid program set up under the rapid credit facility, the Washington institution said.
“This emergency funding […] will help Malawi meet urgent balance of payments needs related to the global food crisis,” the IMF said.
Furthermore, it is specified, “Malawi has also requested a follow-up to the program with the participation of the Board of Directors”, which “will support the government’s economic reforms to restore macroeconomic stability and lay the foundations for a recovery. including”.
The IMF Executive Board will consider this request “as soon as possible”.
The institution adds that “Malawi is implementing a comprehensive debt restructuring necessary to restore [sa viabilité]. A credible debt restructuring process should be underway before the IMF board considers it”.
“The authorities are firmly committed to continuing their efforts to implement structural reforms and prudent macroeconomic policies [budgétaires, monétaires et de taux de change] which, together with the ongoing debt restructuring process, will steer the country towards macroeconomic stability and a sustainable debt trajectory”, welcomed Mika Saito, head of the IMF team which led discussions with the authorities of the Malawi, quoted in the press release.
The Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, received the President of Malawi, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, in Washington on September 29. She had assured him of her “support” for his program of economic reforms.
In May, the country devalued its national currency, the kwacha, by 25% in the hope of stemming a haemorrhage of its foreign exchange reserves and limiting inflation.
Mr Chakwera won the 2020 presidential election campaigning on the fight against corruption in the impoverished southern African country.