IMF Agrees on New Loan Program With Niger to Help Cut Poverty

from Bloomberg

By Nasreen Seria

The International Monetary Fund agreed with Niger's government on a new three-year loan program to boost economic growth and reduce poverty.

The funds, under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, need to be approved by the IMF board, the Washington-based lender said on its Web site today.

Economic growth in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries with an annual per-capita income of $180, slowed to 3.2 percent last year after record grain production in 2006, the IMF said. The fund forecast in October that growth would accelerate to 5.6 percent in 2007 from 5.2 percent in the previous year.

``Economic performance in 2007 was satisfactory,'' the lender said. ``Exports were buoyed by sharply higher prices for uranium, the main export commodity, and the external current account deficit declined.''

Niger, a West African nation bordering Nigeria, is benefiting from rising investment in uranium mining. Areva SA, the world's largest builder of nuclear plants, produces about 45 percent of its annual uranium output in Niger.

The IMF gave Niger about $40.4 million in loans under a previous program that ended in November.