Liberia: New African Development Bank study outlines steps to draw artisanal and small-scale miners into formal sector, boosting economy

Expanding financial access for Liberia’s artisanal and small-scale mining sub-sector is feasible through formalization and de-risking measures, according to a recent study published by the African Development Bank and the Liberian government.

IMF Managing Director Appoints Rodrigo Valdés as Director of the Western Hemisphere Department

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced today her intention to appoint Mr. Rodrigo Valdés as Director of the Fund’s Western Hemisphere Department (WHD). Mr. Valdés will assume his role as the head of the IMF’s department in charge of relations with member countries in the Americas on May 1, 2023. He will succeed Ilan Goldfajn, who separated from the Fund to become the seventh President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

IMF Executive Board Concludes 2022 Article IV Consultation with Belgium

Growth is expected to slow from 3.0 percent in 2022 to 0.2 percent in 2023, before returning to potential of 1.2 percent over the medium term. Inflation should decelerate from 10.3 percent in 2022 to 5.5 percent in 2023, as energy prices ease. Indexation has opened a wage gap with key trading partners, posing challenges for competitiveness. With aging and social-benefit pressures and in the absence of adjustment measures, the structural fiscal deficit is expected to remain elevated over the medium term at 5½ percent of GDP and high public debt will also rise to about 120 percent of GDP in 2028, increasing vulnerabilities. Risks are tilted to the downside, related to escalation of the war in Ukraine and a sharper-than-expected tightening of financial conditions. Lower energy prices would reduce fiscal pressures, and with progress on structural reforms before elections in 2024, boost confidence.

IMF Executive Board Completes the Third Review Under the Extended Credit Facility, Approves $32.6 Million Disbursement, and Concludes the 2022 Article IV Consultation with the Republic of Madagascar

Since the last Article IV consultation in 2019, the Malagasy authorities have implemented several key policy recommendations, but ambitious reforms remain hampered by limited capacity and weak governance. In a context of lower global growth and high international prices, Madagascar’s growth is projected to stall at 4.2 percent in 2023 while annual average inflation would accelerate above 10 percent. Risks from the domestic political situation, low COVID-vaccination rates and adverse global developments cloud the outlook. On the upside, the implementation of the full reform agenda envisaged in the Plan Emergence Madagascar would have significant effects on productivity and growth.

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