(Ecofin Agency) - The record level of the cashew crop in Guinea Bissau this year softened the economic impact of the political crisis that the Portuguese-speaking country is currently experiencing. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stresses that, "up until now, there is no clue pointing to the fact that the latest developments of the political news have had a significant impact on the economy which was able to benefit from the effect of a record crop", said a leader of the institution.

According to Geraldo Martins, who was still minister of Finance last month, exports have reached 170,000 tons, beating the previous record set in 2011. This new performance comes in a context where the price levels for cashew are at their highest. "If the current political crisis is resolved within the next few weeks, its impact on the economy would be minimal", he confided to Reuters.

Guinea Bissau has been in turmoil since President José Mario Vaz dismissed Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira and its entire government, creating a situation that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) qualified as "a threat to the achievements of the 2014 elections".