Finance and Budget Minister Tahir Hamid Nguilin made a statement on the country’s financial situation and the agreement reached a few days ago with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was yesterday Monday February 1 at the branch of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) in Moundou.
Staying in the economic capital of Chad as part of the President of the Republic’s tour, the head of the Finance and Budget Department, Tahir Hamid Nguilin, shed some light on the country’s economic situation.
In his communication, he recalled that the government of Chad and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) signed at the time a three-year program, supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of 2017-2020. This followed the conference of heads of state of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), in December 2016 where it was found that economies as a whole had big monetary problems and reserves had fallen. , for some countries, indicates the Minister.
“The reserves were in the negative zone so it was necessary to urgently and drastically put in place rather monetary programs and austerity programs which led to cuts in wages, the stoppage of investments and construction sites” , explained Tahir Hamid Nguilin.
According to him, programs have been gradually put in place and with regard to Chad, he affirmed: “we are one of the countries which has observed these programs the best and adopted a truly monetary program where the State is he takes refuge in debt on the local market, with local banks, in the sub-region. As a result, we were able to rebuild our reserves and restore external balances, fundamentally improve the currency situation ”.
The minister also indicated that at the same time, the government negotiated with the social partners, which resulted in the memorandum of understanding signed on January 9, 2020. “And we have gradually restored wages,” he said added. “This FEC program has borne fruit”, welcomed the Minister, because, he explained, it made it possible to redress “our external balances”, to improve the “ratios of our external debt, of our commercial debt ”as well as to re-establish“ the ratio of the wage bill to own revenues ”.
Tahir Hamid Nguilin continued that with the advent of the Covid, the collapse of prices and the decline in oil production, a new program had to be started. “But this time the negotiated with the partners so that this new program is not a monetary program but an economic program, pro-business, oriented towards growth, a program without austerity measures. We did not cut wages, we rather increased wages in January, “he said of the latest agreement reached with the IMF a few days ago.
According to the minister, Chad is one of the very first, if not the first country to “get this kind of program, to pass the G20 successfully, the G7, the Paris Club.” And to conclude, on a note of satisfaction, that in Chad, “things are moving in the right direction”.
