IMF Staff Concludes Mission to Sierra Leone without disbursing anything : SLPP must cut wasteful spending and preserve foreign reserves

IMF Staff Concludes Mission to Sierra Leone

April 22, 2024

• An IMF team and the Sierra Leonean authorities held discussions on a new arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility.
• They made substantial progress towards understandings on the authorities’ development objectives and the reforms needed to achieve macroeconomic stability and maintain debt sustainability.
• Discussions will continue over the coming months. Continued fiscal and monetary tightening, and preservation of reserves, will be critical in the meantime.

Washington, DC: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, led by Mr. Christian Saborowski, visited Freetown from April 8 to 12, 2024, to hold discussions with the Sierra Leonean authorities on their request for financial support under a new arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) after the previous arrangement came to an end on November 20, 2023 (Press Release 23/403). The discussions continued during the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group in Washington, DC.

At the end of the discussion, Mr. Saborowski issued the following statement:

“The authorities substantially tightened macroeconomic policies in 2023 and into the first quarter of 2024. They are beginning to reap the fruits of the adjustment in the form of a stable exchange rate and declining inflation. Nonetheless, the remaining adjustment required to keep debt on a sustainable path is significant, financing needs are high, and foreign reserves have fallen.

“The authorities and the staff team reached agreement on most policies to underpin the requested arrangement under the ECF. They reached understandings on the authorities’ development objectives and reforms needed to achieve macroeconomic stability and maintain debt sustainability.

“Discussions will continue over the coming months, and the team plans to return to Freetown for a follow-up mission in early September to reach a staff-level agreement on the new arrangement under the ECF. Continued fiscal and monetary tightening, and preservation of reserves, will be critical in the meantime.

“We thank the authorities for their warm hospitality and the productive discussions.”