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IMF gives 9.3-mln-dollar lifeline to tsunami-stricken Samoa
Washington (AFP) Dec 7, 2009 The International Monetary Fund announced Monday it would provide a 9.3-million-dollar lifeline to Samoa to help the country recover from a September earthquake and tsunami disaster. The IMF executive board on Monday approved the aid to Samoa under the rapid-access component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility (ESF), a lending instrument to help a country deal with a major negative impact beyond the control of its government. The Samoa loan is "to help the country recover from the damage caused by a devastating earthquake and tsunami on September 29, 2009," the IMF said, noting Samoa had suffered its worst human losses and physical damage from a natural disaster since its independence in 1962. The disaster in particular hammered Samoa's tourism sector, which is its main commercial source of foreign exchange, the Washington-based institution said. "The IMF extends sympathy to the people of Samoa for the losses caused by the September 2009 tsunami. Owing to its scale, the disaster has severely undercut Samoa's prospects for a quick recovery from the global recession," Takatoshi Kato, deputy managing director, said in a statement following the board discussion. Villages and resorts in Samoa and the neighboring Pacific islands of American Samoa and northern Tonga were flattened by the giant waves generated by a massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in a nearly a century. The tsunami killed 186 people. The IMF said the loan was aimed at providing the Samoan authorities with financial assistance to support the country's external reserves amid shortfalls in export earnings and increased import costs related to the disaster response. "Its adverse impact on the tourism sector and sizable reconstruction needs will result in a sharp widening of the fiscal and current account deficits," he said. Kato said the authorities' commitment to minimize the overall fiscal burden by re-directing some development spending under existing plans to tsunami-related infrastructure rehabilitation was "encouraging." But the IMF official warned that the significant fiscal cost of emergency relief and rehabilitation would result in sharply higher fiscal deficits over the coming two to three years. "Against this background it will be important to prioritize spending on areas that are key to revive the economy, as well as on basic social services." Share This Article With Planet Earth
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