Ending a work mission in Conakry, the head of the International Monetary Fund’s delegation to Guinea, Abdoul Aziz Wane, announced that the institution has reviewed its growth forecast for 2016 to 5.2% from 3.8% previously. IMF’s visit was part of the eight and last review of the program of authorities supported by an agreement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF).
According to the official, “data available shows that economic activity has restarted, at an uneven pace however because it is driven by the offer’s positive shocks in the mining, agriculture, and power sectors, which were less affected by the Ebola outbreak”. He thus recalled that activity in the manufacturing sector and services’, which are generally the most remunerative sources of employments, is restarting at a much slower pace.  
Wane indicates that performance in the implementation of ECF has improved significantly. “Authorities registered an excess on the underlying budget balance of 0.7% of GDP for a target of 1.2% of GDP,” he said adding that “macroeconomic policies for 2017 will focus on improving living standards of populations, and maintaining economic stability”.
Looking at the performances obtained, Abdoul Aziz Wane urged Guinea’s authorities to boost their efforts to finalize the structural reforms engaged in the framework of the ECF program especially in the energy domain and impose the respect the code of public markets.
Alain Okpeitcha