IMF Approves Immediate Disbursement of $10 Million to Somalia

GOOBJOOG NEWS | MOGADISHU: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced an immediate disbursement of US$10 million to Somalia for budget support.

The announcement by the IMF executive board now brings Somalia’s total disbursement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) to US$50 million, and comes following the Board’s completion of its first review of the ECF arrangement for Somalia on Wednesday.

IMF’s Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh commended the Somali authorities for maintaining strong reform momentum after reaching the completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in December 2023. 

“Somalia’s performance under the Fund-supported Extended Credit Facility Arrangement has been strong. The authorities’ continued strong ownership of the reform agenda will be important to build resilience, promote inclusive growth, and reduce poverty. Continued and timely support from development partners is also critical for the successful implementation of the reform strategy,” she said.

She further stated that Somalia’s strong revenue performance and steadfast implementation of revenue-enhancing reforms were commendable and that sustained efforts on domestic revenue mobilization would help to make room for priority spending.

Ms. Sayeh added that key reforms include customs modernization and the new income tax lawand that further strengthening of public financial management including continued progress on payroll integration, enhancing expenditure controls, as well as developing debt management capacity are important.

“Ongoing reforms to strengthen central bank institutional capacity are commendable. Careful formulation of the monetary and exchange rate policy frameworks is important in the context of the planned currency reform. Efforts should continue to promote financial deepening and financial inclusion and to advance reforms to improve the AML/CFT framework and governance,” she said.