Mali's economy posted growth of 7.2 percent in 2014, the International Monetary Fund said Friday, in an encouraging sign of recovery from the chaos of a coup and Islamist takeover. Christian Josz, the IMF's mission chief in Mali, told reporters in the capital Bamako the figure compared with weak 1.7 percent growth in 2013 and stagnation in 2012.
He praised the government for making "major efforts to strengthen the management of public finances, insisting on compliance with fiscal rules and reversals of markets" in the final months of 2014. The recovery comes after the country was upended by a coup in 2012 which opened the door for an Islamist incursion and French-led military intervention in January 2013 to restore democracy. In December last year the IMF lifted a block on aid to Mali, frozen for six months after the impoverished west African nation lavished $40 million on a presidential plane.
The IMF announced the resumption of disbursements under its $46 million credit for Mali, set in December 2013 to help the country as it emerged from a security and political crisis. Payments had stopped in May last year after the government bought the extravagant aircraft and issued a $200-million state guarantee that allowed a private company to buy supplies for the army.
Those deals raised questions about the authorities' commitment to good management of public finances, Josz told AFP at the time. Under pressure, the government agreed to two independent audits that revealed shortcomings, and undertook other reforms that were strong enough to persuade the IMF to move ahead, the organisation said. Josz said on Friday he considered that "the situation has been rectified, steps have been taken". Finance Minister Mamadou Igor Diarra told reporters the government was "determined to fight the culture of impunity... and buckle down to maintaining a successful economy for the development of Mali".