JOHANNESBURG, 22 September 2009 (IRIN) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a three-year US$21.5 million loan to Comoros on 21 September to assist in poverty alleviation and progress towards achieving its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The loan was made under the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, which has an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent, repayments that only begin after 66 months and end 10 years after disbursement; $6.7 million will be made available immediately.

The loan dovetails with the Comoros Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy, which aims to achieve sustainable economic development by stimulating the private and agricultural sectors, and strengthening governance and the judiciary in the Indian Ocean island state.

The loan will boost the government's medium-term macro-economic programme, which hopes to expand gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 1 percent to 3 percent or 4 percent by 2012; in 2008 about 25 percent of GDP was comprised of remittances from expatriates working in other countries.

An IMF spokesman told IRIN the increased expenditure by the government would assist in improving road infrastructure, the health and education systems, and providing energy.


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