An International Monetary Fund mission headed by Lamin Leigh, which spent two weeks in Cape Verde evaluating the country's economic and financial policies as a part of the Policy Support Instrument, has given its fourth consecutive positive evaluation of the government's macroeconomic management since the program began in 2006.

The IMF's director for Africa considered Cape Verde's economic performance "satisfactory" during the second half of 2007, and affirmed that economic growth remained "strong." Inflation was considered "moderate," while the public debt was "reduced."

Lamin Leigh, who spoke yesterday afternoon in a press conference at the Ministry of Finances, praised the "close dialogue" the IMF has with Cape Verdean authorities within the Framework of the Policy Support Instrument, and affirmed that the policies adopted as a part of the PSI, as well as the structural reforms the government is currently carrying out in public administration and the tax sector, should continue to be implemented.

Finance Minister Cristina Duarte, who also gave journalists her impressions regarding this most recent IMF mission to Cape Verde, stressed that this "fourth consecutive positive evaluation of Cape Verde's macroeconomic management is important, because it introduces an element of predictability into the private sector." In the cabinet minister's view, the positive results of the country's macroeconomic policies " are an example of good public policy" and "the growing levels of public and private growth" that have led to the "growing exportation of services." These signs, according to Duarte, show that a "new paradigm" is emerging in the country's economy. "We have gone from an economy that is extremely dependent upon foreign aid to a moment in which we have endogenous factors of economic growth," she said.

Despite the "progress achieved" and the fact that Cape Verde "is reaping what it has sown," the government acknowledges the existence of "a series of vulnerabilities" it has sought to "neutralize," the Finance Minister admits. One of the challenges, as the IMF also highlights in its most recent reports on the PSI, is the resolution of the energy problem, which will include not only the construction of new infrastructures, but also the "strengthening of the regulatory framework." Another vulnerability mentioned by Cristina Duarte has to do with the public debt, but, as she guaranteed, the government is committed to proceeding, in partnership with the IMF, with its policies of "discipline and rigor" in the management of state debt.