Niger is set to receive new loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement reforms aimed at reducing risks to future balance of payments stability and addressing its ongoing balance of payments challenges.
On Wednesday, the IMF Executive Board completed the Fourth and Fifth Reviews of Niger’s economic and financial program, which is supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), as well as the First Review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
As a result of these reviews, Niger will receive an immediate disbursement of SDR 19.74 million (approximately US$ 26 million) under the ECF, bringing the total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 157.92 million (around US$ 210 million). Additionally, SDR 34.216 million (about US$ 45 million) will be disbursed under the RSF.
Niger’s ECF was originally approved on December 8, 2021, and was later complemented by the RSF in July 2023. Both arrangements have been extended by six months, now set to run until December 2025, to provide enough time for the government to implement key reforms and support its efforts toward fiscal consolidation.
While the program’s implementation was largely on track as of late June 2023, the country’s political crisis disrupted progress, leading to the accumulation of external and domestic debt service arrears.