Guinea-Bissau: Staff Report for the 2022 Article IV Consultation and Third Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program—Informational Annex
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GUINEA-BISSAU

Abstract

GUINEA-BISSAU

Title Page

GUINEA-BISSAU

STAFF REPORT FOR THE 2022 ARTICLE IV CONSULTATION AND THIRD REVIEW UNDER THE STAFF-MONITORED PROGRAM—INFORMATIONAL ANNEX

June 2, 2022

Prepared By

The African Department (In Consultation with Other Departments)

Contents

  • FUND RELATIONS

  • WORLD BANK GROUP RELATIONS

  • AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP RELATIONS

  • STATISTICAL ISSUES

Fund Relations

(As of April 30, 2022)

Membership Status

Joined: March 24, 1977; Article VIII

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Financial Commitments:

Arrangements:

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Outright Loans:

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Projected Payments to Fund 2/

(SDR Million; based on existing use of resources and present holdings of SDRs):

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Formerly PRGF.

When a member has overdue financial obligations outstanding for more than three months, the amount of such arrears will be shown in this section.

Implementation of HIPC Initiative:

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Debt Relief by Facility (SDR Million)

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Assistance committed under the original framework is expressed in net present value (NPV) terms at the completion point, and assistance committed under the enhanced framework is expressed in NPV terms at the decision point. Hence these two amounts cannot be added.

Under the enhanced framework, an additional disbursement is made at the completion point corresponding to interest income earned on the amount committed at the decision point but not disbursed during the interim period.

The MDRI provides 100 percent debt relief to eligible member countries that qualified for the assistance. Grant assistance from the MDRI Trust and HIPC resources provide debt relief to cover the full stock of debt owed to the Fund as of end-2004 that remains outstanding at the time the member qualifies for such debt relief.

Implementation of Catastrophe Containment and Relief (CCR) Trust6/:

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As of February 4, 2015, the Post-Catastrophe Debt Relief Trust has been transformed to the Catastrophe Containment and Relief (CCR) Trust.

Decision point - point at which the IMF and the World Bank determine whether a country qualifies for assistance under the HIPC Initiative and decide on the amount of assistance to be committed.

Interim assistance - amount disbursed to a country during the period between decision and completion points, up to 20 percent annually and 60 percent in total of the assistance committed at the decision point (or 25 percent and 75 percent, respectively, in exceptional circumstances).

Completion point - point at which a country receives the remaining balance of its assistance committed at the decision point, together with an additional disbursement of interest income as defined in footnote 2 above. The timing of the completion point is linked to the implementation of pre-agreed key structural reforms (i.e., floating completion point).

Safeguards Assessments:

The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) has implemented all recommendations provided in the 2018 safeguards assessment. The assessment found that the BCEAO had broadly appropriate governance arrangements and a robust control environment. In line with the safeguards policy's four-year cycle for regional central banks, an update assessment of the BCEAO is due in 2022.

Exchange Rate Arrangement

The exchange rate arrangement of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) is a conventional peg. Guinea-Bissau participates in the WAEMU and has no separate legal tender. The common currency, the CFA franc, is pegged to the euro at the rate of €1 = CFAF 655.957. The Monetary Cooperation Agreement between the WAEMU member countries and France was concluded December 4, 1973. It was maintained after the French franc was replaced by the euro by the European Commission decision of November 23, 1998. The Monetary Cooperation Agreement is based on three pillars: (1) a common issuing institution, (2) fixed parity with the euro, and (3) a guarantee of unlimited convertibility. Guinea Bissau accepted the obligations of Article VIII, Sections 2, 3, and 4 with effect from January 1, 1997.. The exchange system is free from multiple currency practices and exchange restrictions on the making of payments and transfers for current international transactions.

Article IV Consultation

Guinea-Bissau is on the 12-month consultation cycle. The last Article IV consultation discussions with Guinea-Bissau were held in Bissau, September 20–October 3, 2017. The staff report was discussed by the Executive Board and the consultation was concluded on December 11, 2017.

Technical Assistance (2017-2022)

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Resident Representative

The Resident Representative in Senegal also covered Guinea-Bissau from September 1997 through July 2007. Mr. Gitton has been the Resident Representative in Guinea-Bissau since August 2019.

Table 1.

Guinea-Bissau: Arrangements with the IMF, 1984–2022

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World Bank Group Relations

1. Guinea-Bissau joined the World Bank in 1977, three years after independence. The first operation was approved in 1979 for a road construction and restoration project. Since then, the International Development Association (IDA) has approved 48 projects for Guinea-Bissau amounting to about US$750.6million.

2. The World Bank Group's Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Guinea-Bissau, covering FY2018-21, is the first full country strategy since 1997. It was revised through the Program Learning Review (PLR) exercise in 2021. The PLR extends the CPF through June 2023 and adjusts the CPF framework to give more time for projects to manifest results. In addition, the extension allows to account for client-driven changes to programming, better align the CPF to the new National Development Plan (2020 -2023), the revised IDA19 (and advanced IDA20) cycle, and the country's political cycle. The focus areas of the revised CPF program are expand economic opportunities and enhance resilience and bolster human capital through improved education, health and social protection. Revisions to the CPF address key aspects of fragility, such as weak governance, social exclusion exacerbated by limited state presence and services in rural areas, and inadequate management of natural capital amid threats from disasters and climate change. Operationally, the PLR's adjustments respond to delays in the health and education projects, dropped regional projects, and COVID-19 portfolio impacts. Gender and governance continue permeating each objective as cross-cutting themes. The PLR approved by the WB Board on July 27, 2021 has six objectives (see table below).

Revised CPF Framework

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3. The PLR was an opportunity to take stock of lessons on how the WBG can work more effectively in Guinea-Bissau's fragile and politically volatile climate, and where the WBG should direct resources to maximize poverty reduction and promote relief and recovery from the pandemic. Key lessons include a sustain regular high-level dialogue, a focus on simple designs and realistic targets, systematically integrate into projects client capacity-building components, and reinforce the FCV-sensitive approach across the CPF portfolio. This FCV-sensitive approach is expected to span a longer time horizon as the WBG works to prepare the next CPF. In the unique context of Guinea-Bissau, the WBG will consider the following over the short and longer term: adopting a conflict filter/peace lens to relevant projects; building capacities on environmental and social safeguards; exploring greater results-based financing; and considering the Geo-Enabling Initiative for Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS) or third-party monitoring as tools to strengthen monitoring of the portfolio, implement safeguard mechanisms, and/or integrate citizen engagement. Currently, GEMS tool is being deployed in Guinea-Bissau portfolio including technical support to Project Implementation Units.

4. Under IDA 19 (the 19th replenishment of International Development Association (IDA) resources for FY2019–21) the national allocation for Guinea-Bissau is US$ 91 Million. The PLR plans to use selective use of IDA19 facilities and will seek to mobilize funds through the various facilities under the IDA-IFC-MIGA Private Sector Window (PSW), namely the blended finance facility, the risk mitigation facility and/or the local currency finance facility. In addition to potential financing from IDA Regional Integration Window (RIW).

A. Lending Program

5. The current active World Bank portfolio totals US$329.31 million and is comprised of seven national IDA operations for a net committed amount of US$135.31 million (of which US$61.87 million remain undisbursed), four regional IDA operations of US$194 million (of which US$81.42 million undisbursed), and one trust fund operation in the education sector (US$2.65 million). Water & Energy projects represent 56 percent of investments, followed by Human Development (24 percent), Digital Development (11 percent), Transport (5 percent) and Agriculture & Food (4 percent). The World Bank is also supporting non-lending technical assistance activities in Guinea-Bissau, including through a Public Expenditure Review (PER), and a Debt Management Facility (DeMPA). The Bank launched an updated Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) in January 2022 expected to be presented to the Board in December 2022.

6. IFC's activities have focused on providing advisory services to support access to finance and to improving the investment climate, jointly with the World Bank, especially on enhancing the cashew-value chain. IFC has no investment exposure in Guinea-Bissau but has recently been requested to support the Government with the privatization of GuineaTel/GuineaTelecom. MIGA is not active in the country.

African Development Bank Group Relations

1. From the approval of the first project to the country in 1976, to April 2022, the African Development Bank (AfDB) had approved 58 operations for Guinea-Bissau, for a net commitment of UA 351.36 million (about CFAF 485.72 billion). 33 percent of these operations have been in the social sector, 25 percent in infrastructure, 23 percent in agriculture and 19 percent in the multi-sector. As of March 2022, the active portfolio comprises twelve ongoing projects (national and regional) representing a total net amount of UA 94.89 million, and a disbursement rate of 32 percent.

A. Lending Program

2. During the period January 2015–December 2021, the Board approved the 2015-2019 Country Strategy, extended to 2021, based on two priorities: (i) Strengthening the governance and foundations of the state; and ii) Developing infrastructure for inclusive growth. Under the first pillar, the Bank approved the Emergency Economic and Financial Reform Support Programme (PUAREF - UA 5m); the Economic and Financial Management Support Project (PARGEF - UA 5m), and the Justice Sector Institutional Capacity-Building Support Project (PARCI-SJ - UA 1.25m). Under the second pillar, The Bank approved operations to improve infrastructure, such as the OMVG Energy Project (UA 4.5 m); the Bissau City Power Supply Improvement Project (PASEB - UA 13.3 m), the Project for the Development of the Electric Distribution System in Bissau, in coordination with PASEB (UA 20 m), and the Boké-Quebo road improvement project (UA 23.45 m).

3. The Bank also approved operations in the agricultural sector initially not programmed: the Rice Value Chain Development Project in the Bafata and Oio Regions (PDCV-Riz) (UA 4.22 m) in 2017 and the Project to Support Value Chain and Entrepreneurship in Rural and Agricultural Sectors (PACVEAR) (UA 9.56 m) in 2019. The Bank also approved three preparatory studies using its trust funds: (i) the study on preparation of the Saltinho hydropower station (UA 0.7 m); (ii) the study on the launching of the cotton-textile sector (UA 0.36 m); and (iii) the feasibility study on the construction of the deepwater port in Buba (UA 1.44 m).

4. This period was marked by the approval of three emergency operations. These are (i) the emergency assistance to support Guinea-Bissau preparedness and response plan to fight the Zika virus outbreak in 2016 (UA 0.72 m); (ii) the emergency assistance for the fight against armyworm invasion in 2018 (UA 0.72 m); (iii) the project to support the fight for the Covid-19 pandemic (UA 6.85 m) to strengthen the control and prevention mechanisms and support community-based engagement against the Covid-19 pandemic.

B. Non-Lending Program

5. During the 2015-2021 period, more activities were implemented than initially planned. The African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) reviewed three mining contracts already concluded with various private companies in the phosphate, bauxite, and heavy sands sectors. ALSF also provided assistance in the negotiation and successful restructuring and reduction (by 90%) of outstanding debt to a bilateral creditor, thus generating savings of USD 45 m for the country. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered the study “Covid-19 Socio-Economic Impact Analysis for Guinea-Bissau", discussed in partnership with other development partners and published by UNDP. The Fragility and Resilience Assessment was finalized in 2020, jointly with the World Bank. The Bank also published a policy brief providing contributions to the reform in the Constitution on fiscal management.

6. The Bank new strategy preparation for the 2022-2026 period is ongoing. The Country Diagnostic Note was published in 2021, highlighting the need for continued infrastructure investment and economic diversification. Planned economic and sector studies include a private sector profile and an updated country gender profile. The Bank has no operations with the private sector and had planned support to improve SMEs' capacity and access to finance under the Lusophone Compact initiative.

Statistical Issues

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Guinea-Bissau: Table of Common Indicators Required for Surveillance

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Any reserve assets that are pledged or otherwise encumbered should be specified separately. Also, data should comprise short-term liabilities linked to a foreign currency but settled by other means as well as the notional values of financial derivatives to pay and to receive foreign currency, including those linked to a foreign currency but settled by other means.

Both market-based and officially determined, including discount rates, money market rates, rates on treasury bills, notes and bonds.

Foreign, domestic bank, and domestic nonbank financing.

The general government consists of the central government (budgetary funds, extra budgetary funds, and social security funds) and state and local governments.

Including currency and maturity composition currency and maturity composition.

Includes external gross financial asset and liability positions vis-à-vis nonresidents.

Daily (D), Monthly (M), Quarterly (Q), Annually (A), Irregular (I).

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