Washington, DC: On December 17, 2021, Management of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a seven-month (December 2021 - June 2022) Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for the Central African Republic.[1]
The deterioration of the security situation in late 2020-early 2021 deepened further the economic, financial, and social challenges C.A.R is facing, thereby compounding the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite recent improvements, the outlook remains fragile and securing additional donor financing is paramount to help the authorities achieve their development objectives.
Since the pandemic stroke, support from the IMF and the donor community has been significant, including disbursements following the completion of the first and second reviews under theExtended Credit Facility (ECF) supported programin January 2021, the emergency financing under theRapid Credit Facility(RCF) approved in April 2020, C.A.R.'s participation in the debt service relief approved under theCatastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, and theG20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative. The2021 General Special Drawing Rights Allocationsignificantly complemented these efforts.
The authorities' top priority now is to foster the recovery from the security crisis and the pandemic. This requires accelerating ongoing initiatives aimed at restoring peace, sustainably financing high-priority expenditures, and deploying reforms that improve public financial management and fiscal transparency, domestic revenue mobilization, and governance, including through the fight against corruption.
The SMP will provide a roadmap to do so, as well as to improve, the track record of policy implementation and bring the structural reform agenda back on track. Its satisfactory implementation would pave the way for the resumption of discussions under an ECF-supported program in mid-2022.
[1]SMPs are informal agreements between country national authorities and IMF staff to monitor the authorities' economic program. As such, they do not entail endorsement by the IMF Executive Board (with the exception of SMPs under theHeavily Indebted Poor Countries(HIPC) process). SMP staff reports are issued to the Board for information.
