(Ecofin Agency) - Mauritania will benefit from a new disbursement of $23 granted by the International Monetary Fund following the completion of the sixth review under the extended credit facility arrangement with the country.

Valued at $167 million for the period 2017-21, this agreement aims to help Mauritania meet its social and infrastructure needs while maintaining macroeconomic stability and strengthening resilience to shocks. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced authorities to adjust their priorities. They now include dealing with the health crisis that has affected 17,252 people and killed 442 in the country and curbing the economic fallouts.

The IMF support “was augmented by SDR 20.24 million (15.7 percent of quota) on September 2, 2020 to address higher-than-anticipated financing needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was extended by three months on December 1, 2020.” Mauritania has also benefited from a Rapid Credit Facility that helped increase health and social welfare spending in response to the crisis.

Despite the economic contraction of -2.2% estimated for the country in 2020, the IMF hails the government for its efforts and forecasts a 3.1% recovery for 2021.

“The authorities have responded swiftly to mitigate the impact of the pandemic while international partners have provided sizable financing and debt service suspension. This, together with high commodity exports, has placed Mauritania in a stronger position to support the recovery,” Mitsuhiro Furusawa, IMF Deputy MD, said, adding that “the outlook remains highly uncertain and dependent on volatile commodity markets, with sizable downside risks in case new waves of the pandemic spill over.”

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou