• An IMF delegation will visit Gabon in mid-June 2025 to assess economic progress.
• Gabon hopes the visit will lead to a new financing agreement after a previously suspended program.
• Fitch Ratings expects a deal by year-end but warns of political and policy-related risks.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is scheduled to arrive in Libreville, Gabon, in mid-June 2025, according to Gomez Agou, the IMF’s resident representative. He announced this on May 12 during a meeting with Vice President Alexandre Barro Chambrier.

The visit aims to review the country’s progress under its current economic and financial commitments. Gabon hopes the outcome will lead to a new agreement and the disbursement of financial support from the institution.

Gabon is not currently under a program with the IMF. Its last deal, a three-year arrangement backed by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), was approved in August 2021. However, the program ran into obstacles, and the IMF did not validate the third review, leading to its suspension.

The country is now seeking IMF assistance, and Fitch Ratings believes a new deal is likely to be signed before the end of 2025.

“Our base case assumes that an IMF agreement, including an initial disbursement, will be in place in 2025, providing some external funding, but risks to this scenario are high as a program would likely require drastic and unpopular policy changes in a still volatile political environment following the regime transition in mid-2023,” Fitch said.

The rating agency added that any future deal would likely focus on restoring fiscal credibility, improving development spending, and strengthening efforts to reduce Gabon’s large stock of debt arrears.