Press Release No. 17/258

IMF Executive Board Reviews Noncomplying Disbursements for Chad

June 30, 2017

The Executive Board regretted that when the combined third and fourth reviews were completed on November 11, 2016, the authorities did not accurately disclose to the IMF the accumulation of external debt payment arrears of about $46 million. This led to a significant breach of the continuous performance criterion on the non-accumulation of external payment arrears. The Board therefore considers that the disbursements following the reviews were non-complying.

The Executive Board noted that the incorrect reporting of external debt service information to the Fund reflected a lack of coordination among the relevant government agencies and weak debt management procedures.

The Executive Board welcomed the corrective measures taken by the authorities since the misreporting to address the root causes of the problem and to resolve the arrears. On this basis, the Executive Board granted Chad a waiver for nonobservance of the performance criterion on the accumulation of external payments arrears with respect to the non-complying disbursements.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, stated:

“The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund reviewed two non-complying disbursements totaling SDR 44.41 million to Chad following the combined completion of the third and fourth reviews on November 11 under the ECF arrangement approved on August 1, 2014. The non-complying disbursements arose due to misreporting of external arrears information.

“The Executive Board noted the misreporting incident and supported the proposed waivers given the corrective measures taken by the authorities to address the root causes of the problem as well as their plan to resolve the arrears.”