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Gabon Stabilizing

Gabon Stabilizing
Gabon Stabilizing

Gabon’s economic growth is expected to rise to 2% in 2018 from 0.5% a year ago thanks to robust growth in agriculture, mining and logging, which enabled it avoid a recession, the International Monetary Fund said, Reuters reported. The oil-dependent central Africa nation was forced to turn to the IMF for a bailout after oil prices slumped from 2014 to 2016. In return, it promised to carry out tough reforms, including deep spending cuts. Now economic activity is stabilizing, the IMF said a statement late on Monday. “Economic growth appears set to recover in 2018 and reach 2%, which is a more modest bounce back than previously expected,” Alex Segura-Ubiergo, who led an IMF review mission to Gabon from June 13 to 25, said in the statement. The IMF board approved about $642 million facility in June last year to help Gabon’s recovery program. The mission said it was still concerned over Gabon’s weak program performance, substantial fiscal slippages, and disappointing progress on structural reforms. “There was also insufficient progress to contain current spending—wages and salaries, transfers, subsidies and special accounts—and weak non-oil revenue collections,” IMF said.

 

 

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