São Paulo – Mauritania has been growing in recent years and should continue growing in 2012. The country has increased tax revenues and managed to protect its population form the drought that the country faced in 2011 and resulted in food insecurity in the region. However, Mauritania needs to make an effort to diversify exports and reduce the high unemployment and poverty levels. These are some of the conclusions reached by the directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who visited the country in July. The information was disclosed by the institution on Thursday (16).
According to the IMF, Mauritania has a little-diversified export basket, based mainly on gold, iron ore and fish, which makes it vulnerable to the price of metals and to changes in global demand. “Over the medium term, Mauritania’s overarching objective is to diversify the economy away from commodity exports to make growth more inclusive and reduce poverty,” says the IMF.
Although the report does not inform the share of the population in the country that is unemployed, it states that unemployment levels are high and that approximately 42% of the population is poor. In the evaluation of IMF directors, a way to reduce unemployment and poverty would be investment in activities requiring intensive labour, like agriculture.
According to the report, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Mauritania should grow 5.7% in 2012, in comparison with 2011, in which the country’s GDP rose 4.1%. In the evaluation of the IMF, the country is growing as revenues obtained in the building and mining sectors have been enough to compensate losses caused by the drought in 2011.
“Prudent policies contributed to maintaining macro-stability despite high international fuel and food prices. Fiscal consolidation continued for a third consecutive year, with higher mining revenues and strong tax collection more than offsetting the cost of the emergency program put in place in 2011 to alleviate the impact of higher food and energy prices on the most vulnerable,” said the Fund.
The IMF also forecasts growth for Mauritania in 2012 as cultures that were affected by the drought in 2011, like grain, are recovering this year. Inflation should continue stable, at 5.9%, as the prices of energy and food should not fall. However, the IMF believes that the economy should be more exposed to the foreign scenery this year due to its 3.4 million inhabitants still managing the losses caused by the drought, to the great investment in energy and the construction of an airport.
*Translated by Mark Ament
