The International Monetary Fund has reached a staff-level agreement on a new $439 million loan for Guinea, with a more than three-year program aimed at helping the West African nation transform resource wealth into broader economic growth.
The agreement came after an IMF delegation visited Conakry and held talks with the country’s prime minister, finance minister and other top officials in June, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF’s executive board in September.
Located on the coast of West Africa, most of Guinea’s population works in the agricultural sector, but mining is a key source of income and revenue, with bauxite one of its main exports.
Army general Mamadi Doumbouya came to power in a coup in 2021, then was elected president in December last year, despite initially having promised to hand back power to civilians at the end of a transitional period.
The president’s supporters and allied parties won more than 80 percent of seats in parliament at elections in May.
Under Doumbouya, several political parties have been suspended, protests have been suppressed, and numerous opposition and civil society leaders have been arrested, sentenced or forced into exile.
IMF official Izabela Karpowicz said the country was at “an important economic juncture” and highlighted the opportunities afforded by the commencement of new mining projects to create “significant opportunities to support higher growth and revenue mobilization.”
“The proposed program would help the authorities channel these opportunities into lasting development gains by supporting sound resource management, investment in people and infrastructure, economic diversification, and prudent macroeconomic policies,” she said.
Guinea’s last three-year program with the IMF, involving total loans of around $170 million, ended in 2020.
It has around $202 million in IMF debt coming due over the next three years, about half of the amount that it is taking on in fresh loans with the new program.