Press Release No. Press Release 04/237

Press Release: Statement by the IMF Resident Representative in Chad

November 12, 2004

Wayne Camard, the International Monetary Fund's IMF Resident Representative in Chad, made the following statement in N'djamena on November 11, 2004:

"An IMF African Department team visited Chad on October 28-November 10, 2004. It met the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Economy and Finance; Planning, Development, and Cooperation; Petroleum, Mining, and Energy; Commerce, Industry, and Crafts; the Budget;the Deputy Secretary General of the Office of the President; the National Director of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC); and the Coordinator of the Economic Unit.

"The Chad authorities and the IMF mission agreed on a new three-year program under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), for the period 2005-2007 in the amount of SDR 25.2 million (about US$37.9 million).

"The two parties agreed on the macroeconomic policy as well as on the strengthening of the reforms that will be put in place in the areas of public finance, good governance, and transparency. The program will also support reforms in the key sectors of cotton, energy, and the civil service.

"The new program will be submitted to the IMF Executive Board in late January 2005."