Seychelles' economy is doing well with solid growth, says IMF official
Finance |Author: Rita Joubert-Lawen Edited by: Betymie Bonnelame | September 30, 2023, Saturday @ 08:00| 8441 views
Todd Schneider (left) made the statement to reporters after his meeting with President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House. (State House)
The Seychelles' economy is doing well and although the growth is not as high as it was last year with the bounce back from the COVID pandemic, it is solid growth, said the chief of mission for Seychelles of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday.
Todd Schneider made the statement to reporters after his meeting with President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House.
"The collaborative relationship we have with the government and the exchange of information is also constructive and always very frank," he said.
Schneider said that the IMF delegation is in Seychelles to "assess recent economic developments, performance and also to look in the months and year ahead."
He shared that the growth is solid as tourism numbers are on the rise, inflation is low and public finances look quite strong.
Schneider said that the main point of the mission is looking at the performance under the IMF lending system of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
"We are basically just looking at the performance relative to the conditions that we set for disbursement of the loan," he added.
During the meeting with President Ramkalawan, IMF representatives had the chance to look at economic performance for the past year holistically in terms of what has been happening and in terms of recent economic developments.
The delegation also discussed "the months ahead and what the potential vulnerabilities might be and what the policies might be to mitigate those vulnerabilities," said Schneider.
Seychelles is being assisted with approximately $46.19 million under a newly negotiated RSF and $56.96 million under a new EFF with the IMF.
The two programmes are supporting the island nation's economic policies and reforms. Seychelles is the second African country to reach a staff-level agreement to access the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST).