The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Friday convened a one-day outreach discussion for the Gambia's private sector and business stakeholders at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.

Speaking at the ceremony, the IMF resident representative in The Gambia, Meshack Tunee Tjirongo said Africa has a long way to go and that currently, the IMF has made progress in 33 countries in Africa highlighting that there are three global factors that are liable to influence the African region's wide trend, with stock and domestic natures affecting individual countries. "The individual country outlook will hunch on individual factor. IMF's projections are ambitious and encourage all countries to enjoy," he said.

Abdoul Salaam Secka, chief executive officer of the GCCI maintained that because fiscal deficits and debt positions had improved dramatically, many countries were able to use fiscal policy to counteract the crisis, rather than making it worse. "They strive to preserve, and sometimes even increase public spending at a time when revenue was falling rapidly," he stated. He however pointed out that fiscal policy was countercyclical in two-third of sub-Saharan African countries in 2009. The room for interest rate, as Secka put it, also cuts because inflation had come under control and they were also able to use interest rate policy and reduce interest rates as another means of mitigating the impact of the crisis. He added that where exchange rates come to a flexible play, countries that are affected needed to adjust and be helped to deal with the shocks, contributing to their resilience.

Abdou Njie, a board member of GCCI said the recent global economy slowdown has imposed serious hardship not only on the developed nations but also on the developing ones. He emphasised that it should be noted that the economic crisis emanated from the developed countries such as the US and Europe, but the impact has spread around the world. He observed that the crisis have further led to a sharp drop in growth and even made the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals shaky due to fall in incomes and increase in unemployment. He further observed that in the sub-region, growth dropped by 2.5 per cent in 2009, in which Gambia was not spared. He however said the growth was not affected in a serious way because of the bumper harvest in agriculture.

Reports released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have indicated that despite the rapid financial recovery, African countries are enjoying but the continent still continues to encounter several implacable challenges. It has been reported that many African countries, from the late 1990's onwards, ran better policies than in the past, which helped mitigate the impact of the downturn, with strengthened fiscal positions, reduced debt burdens, lower inflation and better cushions of foreign exchange reserves.