DAKAR (Reuters). – If approved in June by the International Monetary Fund, Niger and The International Monetary Fund reached a staff-level deal on a program review. This will enable a disbursement to be made of approximately $53million.

IMF management must approve the agreement at staff level. This meeting is anticipated to take place in June. In a statement, IMF stated that the completion of the review would permit the payment to be made for external financing requirements.

In December, the IMF approved Niger a loan agreement for three years in the amount of $276 million. This was to assist it with its recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic.

The agreement stated that the IMF was satisfied with the program’s performance up to March 2022 and all quantitative macroeconomic goals were achieved.

It said that economic growth will rebound to 6.9% by 2022, from 1.3% in 2020. This is due to increased agricultural production and large investment projects related to the oil pipeline to Benin. The IMF stated that inflation is still high due to rising food prices.

Niger is found in the semi-arid Sahel area, where armed Islamist organizations linked to al Qaeda/Islamic State have recently destabilized large swathes. Their regular attacks have resulted in the deaths of thousands and displacement of millions.

Niger comes in last place out of the 189 countries that make up the United Nations Human Development Index. It measures life quality, education, health and other aspects.