I. M. G. - January/04 Media Report

2003. Oct. | Dec.: 2004: | Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | IMG Proposals | Ninth & Final Report |

  1. This is our Fourth Statement to the Media following those issued on October 15, 2003, November 15, 2003; and December 1, 2003
  2. The Chairman received the Government’s Economic Program Performance on January 22, 2004 and scheduled a Meeting of the Group on January 29, 2004 to consider the report. Many of the Members did not receive the documents and the Meeting was postponed to Wednesday February 4, 2004.
  3. A perusal of the November figures, subject to a more detailed examination at our next meeting, reveals that the Country may be on course as regards the Stabilization and Adjustment Program.
  4. We note that the International Monetary Fund has declared that under the IMF’s Stabilization Arrangement the structural benchmarks for September, October and November as well as all performance criteria for end-July and end-September 2003 were observed and that the Government has prepared its debt strategy and elaborated a comprehensive medium term economic program designed to re-establish growth and reduce unemployment related poverty.
  5. We communicated to the Prime Minister immediately after our short meeting on January 29, 2004 and among other things, we drew his attention to the systemic problems that impinge upon the effective performance of our functions – two of which are late receipt of monthly reports long after the period for review; and the seeming difficulty of Members getting all the necessary documents from the IMC as was the case on Thursday.
  6. We however await soonest the receipt of the IMC’s report on Dominica’s macroeconomic performance to end-December, 2003 together with the various submissions we have requested and we trust that the systemic problems which delayed our work in 2003 will be remedied so as to permit us to report on a timely basis in 2004.

A.N.J.Matthew
I.M.G. Chairman