NEWS
IMF REPORT ON GAMBIA, UNVEILS A "TOTAL BREAKDOWN AT THE CENTRAL BANK" -TALES
OF ECONOMIC MISMANGEMENT, DECEPTION, AND LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
BY STAFF WRITER



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 8, 2005
A report issued by the International Monetary Fund IMF had indicted the
Ruling APRC government for gross economic mismanagement, misrepresentation
of financial figures, deception and lack of transparency, the ALLGAMBIAN
online newspaper can reveal.

In what was widely described as a shocking IMF report against the tiny West
African country, the world monetary body hinted about a "total breakdown of
internal controls" at the Central Bank of The Gambia, which was a subject of
probe by a South African auditing firm.

The IMF Executive board report dated July 18, 2005 on Gambia says "It was
discovered in 2003 that The Gambia had misreported to the Fund net
international reserves by US$38.8 million at end-December 2001 and failed to
record US$28.5 million in government expenditures. The Executive Board
concluded that The Gambia had received two noncomplying disbursements,
equivalent to SDR 3.435 million each in July and December 2001 (See Press
Release No. 04/49). The authorities repaid these disbursements in 2004 in
four equal installments, with the last payment made ahead of schedule."

The IMF report also says "The Gambia's economic performance since the
mid-1980s has been uneven owing to exogenous shocks, macroeconomic and
structural policy slippage, poor governance, and weak institutions. The
economy's vulnerability to shocks stems from a lack of economic
diversification. In addition, economic performance has been constrained by
policy distortions and by recurrent weaknesses in fiscal policy."

The report also went further to state that expansionary policies have
increased the government's recourse to domestic bank financing, which, in
turn, has raised real interest rates, increased the domestic debt burden,
and tended to crowd out private investment.

According to the IMF Executive board in 1998, Gambia's authorities entered
into a three-year program under the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility
(ESAF), which was converted into a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
(PRGF) arrangement.

In July 2002, the report went on the Board approved a new three-year PRGF
arrangement (See News Brief No. 02/74 and Press Release No. 02/32), but the
first review was not completed because of weak policy implementation and
governance problems.

"It was discovered in 2003 that The Gambia had misreported to the Fund net
international reserves by US$38.8 million at end -December 2001 and failed
to record US$28.5 million in government expenditures. The Executive Board
concluded that The Gambia had received two noncomplying disbursements,
equivalent to SDR 3.435 million each in July and December 2001 (See Press
Release No. 04/49). The authorities repaid these disbursements in 2004 in
four equal installments, with the last payment made ahead of schedule." said
the IMF statement.

Consequently said the report, "The Executive Directors urged the
authorities, during the Article IV consultation in 2004, to commission a
re-audit of the Central Bank of The Gambia's (CBG's) 2001 and 2002 financial
statements on terms of reference agreed with Fund staff. The Directors also
stressed the need for a special audit of foreign exchange transactions
between 2000 and 2003. These audits have now been completed and confirm the
breakdown of internal controls at the central bank that were observed during
the IMF's Safeguard Assessment mission conducted in November 2003."

According to the IMF report which was received by the ALLGAMBIAN, the audit
reports restate general ledger balances for external reserves for various
test dates between end -December 2000 and end -December 2003, which are
significantly lower than the originally recorded balances. The auditors said
the report, have issued a disclaimer indicating that they were unable to
express an opinion on the 2001 and 2002 accounts largely because of the lack
of documentation supporting several foreign exchange transactions.

See the full text of the IMF financial report on Gambia



Go To Top

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright © 2004 AllGambian.Net. All Rights Reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar - get it now!
http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤