Middle East and Central Asia > Mauritania, Islamic Republic of

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International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper presents Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s poverty reduction and growth strategy. With the second Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity (SCAPP) Action Plan 2021–2025, Mauritania is embarking on a new phase in the implementation of its three-five-year strategy to achieve the vision “The Mauritania we want in 2030.” Mauritania, through its commitment to the implementation of the SCAPP, marks its willingness to initiate a large-scale economic, social and environmental transition, on the path of inclusive growth, economic diversification, social cohesion, respect for fundamental rights and human dignity, peace and respect for the environment. The first Action Plan 2016–2020 demonstrated that the implementation of the SCAPP was able to record convincing results. However, some of the objectives could not be achieved, in particular because of the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, which severely affected the world economy, and therefore the Mauritanian economy, which resulted in the emergence of new priorities. This Action Plan 2021–2025 takes into account the lessons learned from the implementation of the first and implements the necessary measures to support the country in its economic recovery and respond to the decisive challenges of the next 5 years, which will be decisive in the preparation of the third Action Plan and the achievement of the 2030 Goals.
Mr. Andrew Berg
,
Mr. Rafael A Portillo
,
Mr. Edward F Buffie
,
Ms. Catherine A Pattillo
, and
Luis-Felipe Zanna
We develop a model to study the macroeconomic effects of public investment surges in low-income countries, making explicit: (i) the investment-growth linkages; (ii) public external and domestic debt accumulation; (iii) the fiscal policy reactions necessary to ensure debt-sustainability; and (iv) the macroeconomic adjustment required to ensure internal and external balance. Well-executed high-yielding public investment programs can substantially raise output and consumption and be self-financing in the long run. However, even if the long run looks good, transition problems can be formidable when concessional financing does not cover the full cost of the investment program. Covering the resulting gap with tax increases or spending cuts requires sharp macroeconomic adjustments, crowding out private investment and consumption and delaying the growth benefits of public investment. Covering the gap with domestic borrowing market is not helpful either: higher domestic rates increase the financing challenge and private investment and consumption are still crowded out. Supplementing with external commercial borrowing, on the other hand, can smooth these difficult adjustments, reconciling the scaling up with feasibility constraints on increases in tax rates. But the strategy may be also risky. With poor execution, sluggish fiscal policy reactions, or persistent negative exogenous shocks, this strategy can easily lead to unsustainable public debt dynamics. Front-loaded investment programs and weak structural conditions (such as low returns to public capital and poor execution of investments) make the fiscal adjustment more challenging and the risks greater.
International Monetary Fund
The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, whose implementation has now reached the second year, has been the key instrument in Mauritania's economic, social, and institutional development policy. The pursuit of policies to accelerate growth, maintain macroeconomic stability, and enhance the competitiveness of the economy have thus made it possible to attain an economic growth rate of about 3.3 percent notwithstanding an unfavorable international economic climate. Annual inflation has been contained at 4 percent.