In a Press Release issued in Washington DC by the IMF Mission, they said that while the economic landscape remains challenging caused by huge domestic arrears, huge public debt burden, and continuing problems of the iron ore mines, the Government has in few months “navigated these difficulties well in the year since taking office, helping to stabilize the economy”.
During the Review Mission, the IMF team recognized and encouraged Government to continue to mobilize domestic revenue and deepen the management of public finances. Revenue increased by over 30% from December 2017 to December 2018, duty free abuse through waivers reduced by wide margins, and government spending was well within the limit underpinned by high fiscal discipline. As a result, the 2018 budget deficit reduced from 8.8 percent to 5.8 percent.
The Bio-meter economic team is graded 90% success because the IMF said “While (economic) program performance is broadly on track, Government passed Nine (9) out of the ten (10) quantitative targets by the end of December 2018 and at end of March 2019. It is expected that when the IMF Executive Board meets by end of June, they will approve immediate disbursement to Sierra Leone of US$21.5 million; this will pave the way to other donors to disburse cumulatively up to US$85.0 million before the end of the year.
