Togo to get joint grant from International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for economic reforms

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will grant Togo about US$137 million between 2009 and 2010, while the World Bank will release US$98 million for the same period to support the country’s ongoing economic reform programme, the World Bank said in a statement Friday. Cooperation between Togo and the Bretton Woods institutions began in early 2008, after a break of more than 10 years, due to “lack of democracy and transparency in the handling of public funds”. The first meeting of the IMF-World Bank task force on Togo is slated for May 2009 in Paris, and it is expected to start a new commitment from other donors in the country and a process of cancelling Togo’s public debt, estimated at US$2 billion.