Typical street scene in Santa Ana, El Salvador. (Photo: iStock)
IMF Survey: IMF Pledges Stronger Partnership to Help Africa Through Crisis
May 28, 2009
- IMF pledges to help Africa through crisis “as a friend”
- IMF steps up lending to Africa, tops $1.5 billion in 2009
- Ready to further increase concessional lending
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has pledged a stronger partnership with African countries to prevent the global economic crisis undoing years of progress in their fight against poverty.
IMF’s Strauss-Kahn in Abidjan with Cote d'Ivoire Finance Minister Charles Koffi Diby (l), IMF African Department Director Antoinette Sayeh (photo: Eugene Salazar/IMF)
GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS
Speaking at the end of a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Côte d’Ivoire on May 27, he said the IMF had already doubled borrowing limits for the poorest countries and was working to provide them with even greater and more flexible lending.
“Africa currently finds itself the innocent victim of a financial crisis that has its origin in advanced economies. Coming so soon after last year’s food and fuel price shock, the global recession adds to the vulnerabilities of low income countries through falling commodity prices, reduced trade and investment, and threats to development assistance,” said Strauss-Kahn at the conclusion of his visit to Abidjan.
Stronger partnership
“In response, the IMF is strengthening its partnership with Africa,” he said in a press statement. “Africa will find in the IMF a good friend, ready with support and candid in advice.”
IMF’s Strauss-Kahn (l) confers with Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa May 24 (photo: Eugene Salazar/IMF)