The International Monetary fund (IMF) in a release dated December 29 said Djibouti’s economy should record a 6.5% growth in 2016 due to the increasing investments in infrastructure projects. This rate is the same as 2015’s but slightly higher than that of 2014 (6%).

IMF however warned the country’s authorities about the continuous rise of its public debt and budget deficit. “Expenses associated with public investments put a lot of pressure on budget and external debt,” it said. Truly, budget deficit should rise to 16.5% of GDP against 12.2% in 2014 while public debt should be around 80% of GDP in 2017 against 60.5% this year.

The Bretton Woods institution also foretold about an increase of non-performing loans which currently plagues the Djiboutian banking industry. “Reinforcing banking supervision and adopting necessary measures to mitigate challenges faced by banks are priorities,” added the IMF in its release.