IMF Staff Country Reports

This paper presents Central African Republic’s First Review under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement, Requests for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, Modification of Quantitative Performance Criteria, Rephasing of Access, and Financing Assurances Review. Program implementation has been mixed for the first review, against challenging macroeconomic backdrop in the first half of the year. The authorities are taking measures to ensure that end-December 2023 targets are met, including by shoring up revenue collection. The authorities remain committed to strong policies. The authorities should step up social spending while also prioritizing investment in additional fuel storage capacity and infrastructure to overcome revenue volatility. Strengthening public debt management would alleviate rollover risks, including by lengthening the tenor of new issuances and building cash buffers. Improving debt statistics is also important. The increase in revenues should be met by a spending structure that prioritizes social-related outlays and thus equitable growth. In parallel, the authorities should adopt a more proactive debt management approach and build cash buffers to mitigate rollover risks. Finally, fostering good governance, anti-corruption efforts, transparency and financial integrity will be critical to catalyze donor support.