## IMF Staff Completes Program Review Mission to Benin

_IMF News, October 29, 2018_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [IMF Staff Completes Program Review Mission to Benin](https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2018/10/29/pr18394-imf-staff-completes-program-review-mission-to-benin)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2018/10/29/pr18394-imf-staff-completes-program-review-mission-to-benin/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2018/10/29/pr18394-imf-staff-completes-program-review-mission-to-benin/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2018/10/29/pr18394-imf-staff-completes-program-review-mission-to-benin/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Published: October 29, 2018

---

### Mission and agreement
- A staff level agreement was reached on the third review under the ECF-supported program, subject to approval by IMF management and the Executive Board Discussions.
- A staff team from the IMF led by Luc Eyraud visited Cotonou during October 18 to 29, 2018.
- Consideration by the IMF’s Executive Board is expected in December 2018.
- The Benin’s ECF-supported program was approved by the IMF Executive Board in April 2017.

### Key macroeconomic findings and outlook
- 2017 growth is estimated at 5.8 percent, driven by high public investment, record cotton production and processing, and the recovery of the Nigerian economy.
- For 2018 preliminary estimates indicate that growth will further accelerate, mostly because of buoyant port activity.
- The medium-term outlook remains favorable with economic growth projected to remain above 6 percent over 2019–23, driven by rising private investment and stronger demand from Nigeria.
- The current account deficit widened in 2017 due to an increase in imports of goods reflecting the scaling-up of public investment.
- Inflation is expected to stay below the WAEMU convergence rate of 3 percent in 2019.

### Program performance and monitoring
- Performance under the ECF-supported program remains satisfactory.
- Based on available data, all program monitoring indicators (quantitative and structural) at end-June 2018 were broadly met.

### Fiscal policy and the 2019 budget
- The authorities and the IMF mission agreed on fiscal policy measures for the 2019 budget to secure key program objectives.
- These measures should enable the projected fiscal deficit to decrease to 2.7 percent of GDP in 2019 and thus comply with the WAEMU regional deficit norm.

### Revenue mobilization and social protection
- The IMF welcomed the efforts included in the budget to mobilize domestic revenues.
- The revenue measures will help allocate more resources to social programs to protect the most vulnerable segments of the population.
- In particular, the new health insurance system will enter in pilot phase next year.
- Better revenue mobilization will also create space to finance the infrastructure projects of the Government Action Program (2017-2021).

### Public investment management
- Further efforts are needed to strengthen the evaluation and prioritization of new investment projects and improve the efficiency of public investment.
- The authorities are implementing the recommendations of the Technical Assistance mission on the management of public investment conducted by the IMF at the end of 2017.

### Public debt sustainability
- Authorities and IMF staff agreed on policies to secure public debt sustainability through a prudent borrowing strategy and the reinforcement of debt management.
- The team encouraged actions to lengthen debt maturities, lower interest costs and rebalance the structure of the debt portfolio.
- The recent debt reprofiling operation contributes to this objective.

### Governance, business environment, and reforms
- The mission noted recent improvement in governance and the business environment and encouraged the government to push further reforms.
- Priority reforms highlighted include facilitating access to electricity and finance, and reinforcing the anti-corruption framework.

### Engagement with authorities
- The team met with President Patrice Talon; Abdoulaye Bio Tchané, Minister of State for Planning and Development; Romuald Wadagni, Minister of Economy and Finance; Alain Komaclo, National Director of the regional central bank, BCEAO; and other senior government officials.
- “The mission thanks the authorities for their strong cooperation and the constructive discussions.”

*IMF Press Release No. 18/394 (October 29, 2018).*

---


## References

- [PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)
- [ECF](https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/ecf.htm)
- [https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2018/10/29/pr18394-imf-staff-completes-program-review-mission-to-benin_