Niger—Letter of Intent

Niamey, June 15, 2004

The following item is a Letter of Intent of the government of Niger, which describes the policies that Niger intends to implement in the context of its request for financial support from the IMF. The document, which is the property of Niger, is being made available on the IMF website by agreement with the member as a service to users of the IMF website.

Mr. Rodrigo Rato
Managing Director
International Monetary Fund
Washington, DC 20431

Dear Mr. Rato:

1. The government of Niger has successfully implemented the PRGF-supported program covering the period 2000-03. During the discussions with the staff on the sixth and last review of the program held in April 2004, it was concluded that all but one of the quantitative and structural performance criteria for the end-December 2003 were met, and that one quantitative indicative target and one structural benchmark were not observed. The missed quantitative performance criterion pertained to the reduction of domestic payments arrears, with only CFAF 12.2 billion being cleared, instead of the programmed CFAF 18 billion for the period. The quantitative indicative target on government revenue mobilization was missed by CFAF 11 billion (0.7 percent of GDP); and the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) for the health and education sectors was finalized in June 2004, instead of end-December 2003.

2. The government has reached satisfactory understandings with Fund staff on a revised schedule for the clearance of domestic payments arrears that preserves Niger's medium-term objectives in this area, and would like to ask for a waiver for the nonobservance of the relating performance criterion. Having fulfilled the conditions agreed upon under the PRGF arrangement, the government requests, thus, completion of the sixth review and release of the final disbursement.

3. Niger achieved strong growth in 2003 driven by the agricultural sector and the government maintained prudent macroeconomic policies. Early indications are that economic growth in 2004 is likely to remain relatively strong, mainly due to the continued expansion of the agricultural sector and strong activity in the construction sector.

4. The government remains determined to foster growth and reduce poverty, and wishes to continue to benefit from financial and technical support from the Fund under a new PRGF arrangement.

5. The government authorizes the Fund to publish the staff report.

Sincerely yours,