The twin island state has made notable progress – IMF

St. John’s Antigua: A recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Antigua & Barbuda
has found that the twin island state has made “notable” progress in many
areas of fiscal performance, the Antigua Observer reported.

The mission, headed by Geoffrey Bannister, visited Antigua & Barbuda
during March 27 – April 5 to undertake the fourth, fifth and sixth reviews
of the programme under the Stand-By Arrangement. A statement issued by the IMF said the global economic climate continued
to impact economic activity on the island and as a consequence, “revenue
collection has continued to be lower than programme projections.”

The Observer report said that the authorities have “successfully restrained primary expenditure in order
to meet the programme targets and manage contingencies in the financial
sector,” the IMF-statement issued this week said.”

At the same time, a
successful restructuring of debts to both domestic and external creditors
has managed to reduce interest payments. ”The country has continued to advance with structural reforms that aim at
strengthening public administration to improve budget performance,” it
added. The mission said it had “useful discussions” with the authorities on
macroeconomic, structural and financial sector policies under the
programme going forward, the Observer said.

“The authorities remain firmly committed to the policies and objectives of
their Fiscal Consolidation Programme, and recognise the importance of
strong macroeconomic, financial and structural policies in achieving the
goals of their National Economic and Social Transformation (NEST) plan,”
the IMF said.

The mission held meetings with Minister of Finance, Harold Lovell, Minister
of Tourism, John Maginley, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
(ECCB), Sir Dwight Venner, senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and
the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), and representatives of the
local business community, according to the release.
 Officials said discussions would continue when the authorities visit
Washington, DC for the IMF and World Bank Group Spring Meetings during
April 16-21, the Observer reported.