Abstract
This paper presents the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe’s first review under the Three Year Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement. After averaging 6 percent a year over several years, real GDP growth in 2009 is estimated at 4 percent, reflecting a decline in foreign direct investment (FDI), which in part reflected the impact of the global crisis. Growth is expected to rebound in 2010, based on new FDI and increased official external financing.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the first review of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe’s economic performance under a three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. The completion of the review, which was undertaken on a lapse of time basis1 and effective on February 17, enabled the release of an amount equivalent to SDR 370,000 (about US$570,000), bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 740,000 (about US$1.13 million). In completing the review, the Executive Board granted São Tomé and Príncipe waivers for the non-observance of two quantitative performance criteria that were missed because of a shortfall in tax revenues in the first half of 2009, which reflected the impact of the global crisis.
The Executive Board approved the three-year ECF arrangement on March 3, 2009 (see
Washington, D.C. 20431 • Telephone 202-623-7100 • Fax 202-623-6772 • www.imf.org
The Executive Board takes decisions under its lapse of time procedure when the Board agrees that a proposal can be considered without convening formal discussions.