Press Release No. 06/232

Press Release: IMF First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky to Visit Turkey, South Africa and Mali

October 27, 2006

Mr. John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will visit Turkey October 30-November 1, South Africa November 5-7, and Mali November 8-10. This is Mr. Lipsky's first visit to Turkey and sub-Saharan Africa since becoming the First Deputy Managing Director on September 1, 2006.

In Turkey, Mr. Lipsky will meet with the authorities to learn about Turkey's economic outlook and policy priorities going forward. He will also meet with private sector representatives.

In South Africa, Mr. Lipsky will hold bilateral discussions with the economic leadership of South Africa on issues of mutual interest. He will conduct outreach activities, jointly with the Reserve Bank of South Africa, on the Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Lipsky will also meet with representatives of the private sector, labor and civil society in South Africa. During his visit to South Africa, Mr. Lipsky will discuss policies for strengthening the financial sector in Africa and its contribution to growth and development at a seminar with ministers and central bank officials from Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The seminar, which will be held in Johannesburg on November 7, is jointly organized by the IMF and the UK's Department for International Development, and will also be attended by regional financial sector representatives and World Bank Group officials.

In Mali, Mr. Lipsky will meet the Malian authorities and legislators, and he will visit projects in Mali that have benefited from debt relief under Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiatives. During his visit to Mali, Mr. Lipsky will also attend a seminar on scaling up of aid and promoting growth in the region. The regional seminar, jointly sponsored by the IMF and the French Development Agency, Agence Française de Développement, will take place in Bamako on November 10. Participants will include ministers from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo, as well as senior official from the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Commission and the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), private sector representatives, NGOs, donors, and the media.