Niger will receive new loans from the IMF to implement reforms aimed at reducing risks to future balance of payments stability and addressing long-standing balance of payments challenges.
The IMF’s Executive Board concluded the Fourth and Fifth Reviews of Niger’s economic program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the First Review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) on Wednesday. This milestone enabled immediate disbursements of SDR 19.74 million (approximately US$ 26 million) under the ECF, bringing total disbursements to SDR 157.92 million (about US$ 210 million), and SDR 34.216 million (about US$ 45 million) under the RSF.
Niger’s ECF was approved in December 2021 and supplemented by the RSF in July 2023. Both arrangements were extended by six months until December 2025 to provide adequate time for implementing critical reforms and supporting fiscal consolidation efforts.
While program implementation was generally on track by late June 2023, it was disrupted by a political crisis in the country, resulting in the accumulation of arrears in external and domestic debt service payments.