Finance Minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has said that the government has reversed the negative trends in the economy.
He says the economy is recovering and the recovery is fast and strong,” he said during the mid-year budget presentation in Parliament on Tuesday, July 23.
He said “it is evident that we are on the right trajectory. The economy is rebounding stronger than anticipated.
“The choices we have made and the policies we are implementing are yielding results. We have reversed the negative trends, all the indicators are looking better. I want to assure you that we will stay on this path and continue to make the right choices. Our economic recovery is fast and strong.”
He further stated that over the last six months, the government has sought to bring some urgency and speed to the implementation of key government programmes and also swiftly
provided the necessary support for growth-enhancing initiatives.
“I am again happy to inform this august House that with the support of His Excellency the President, Cabinet and other Stakeholders,: We have successfully concluded the second review of our Extended Credit Facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which led to the disbursement of the 3rd tranche of 360 million US Dollars, bringing total
disbursement to about US$1.6 billion;
“We have completed the Debt Restructuring programme with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC), covering US$5.1 billion dollars resulting in approximately 2.8 billion US Dollars of debt relief. This means that we will not service our debt to our official creditors from 2023 to 2026; We have concluded negotiations with our Eurobond holders, covering 13.1 billion US Dollars, which will lead to a cancellation of 4.7 billion US Dollars
of our debt and provide debt service relief of 4.4 billion US Dollars between
2023 and 2026.
We have concluded our negotiations with five (5) of the seven (7) Independent Power Producers, which will lead to a saving of some of US$6.6 US Billion over the lifetime of the Purchasing Power Agreements (PPAs); We have reined in expenditures to ensure we are within 2024 Budget Appropriation and exceeded the midyear revenue target by 0.2 percent by end-June, 2024.
“In effect, Mr. Speaker, we are living within our means. Indeed, consistent with our programme with the IMF, we are on course to achieving a primary surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP by end of the year. We have cleared all outstanding Bank Transfer Advice (BTAs) up to 2022, and working hard to pay BTAs from 2023.”
