Public Information Notice (PIN) No. 10/96

July 23, 2010 -- Public Information Notices (PINs) form part of the IMF's efforts to promote transparency of the IMF's views and analysis of economic developments and policies. With the consent of the country (or countries) concerned, PINs are issued after Executive Board discussions of Article IV consultations with member countries, of its surveillance of developments at the regional level, of post-program monitoring, and of ex post assessments of member countries with longer-term program engagements. PINs are also issued after Executive Board discussions of general policy matters, unless otherwise decided by the Executive Board in a particular case.

Press Release No. 10/147

April 13, 2010 -- An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Mr. Xavier Maret, traveled to Mali from March 24 through April 6. The mission met with the Prime Minister, Mr. Modibo Sidibé, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Sanoussi Touré, the Minister of Budget, Mr. Lassiine Bouaré, and several other ministers, as well as senior officials of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and representatives of the parliament, the private sector, the civil society, and the donor community. The mission held discussions for the 2010 Article IV consultation and the fourth review of the program supported by the Fund’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).

At the conclusion of the mission, Mr. Maret issued the following statement in Bamako:

9 April 2010 – Tens of thousands of children are at risk of severe malnutrition in Niger and neighbouring countries unless donors urgently provide more funds for humanitarian programmes, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today.

Christiane Berthiaume, a spokesperson for the agency in Geneva, told reporters that UNICEF was very concerned that the ongoing drought in much of the Sahel region of Africa has created a food crisis that is jeopardizing the health of the region’s most vulnerable children.

Already an estimated 859,000 children under the age of five in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria and Chad are classified as needing treatment for severe malnutrition, she said.

NOUAKCHOTT, January 7, 2009—It is early December 2009 and team members at the National Center for Locust Control are clapping their hands in delight. They have been able to control at a very early stage a major locust outbreak that could have affected food security in Africa’s Sahel region and the livelihood of its vulnerable communities.

“After years of hard work, the CNLA has finally reached the level of preparedness needed to successfully control locust emergencies and prevent the situation from worsening,” said Amadou Oumar Ba, the World Bank’s task team leader on the Africa Emergency Locust Project in Mauritania.