IMF programme supports stable economic outlook
The cooperation with the IMF, which was resumed at the end of last year, has already borne fruit. Inflation is slowly declining; foreign exchange reserves have reached a multi-year high and public finances continue to consolidate.
The macroeconomic and financial situation is therefore stable, which is not a given in the light of the upcoming elections and a rather volatile global environment. Given the high external public debt interest and principal payments schedules for the current and upcoming year (USD 13.3 bn), there is no alternative to the cooperation with the IMF.
The real gross domestic product is also developing positively (3.3% in 2018, 2.7% in 2019), but needs to grow much faster. Here, the mixed experiences with structural reforms over the past years are reflected. In order to permanently achieve higher growth rates, new efforts in this area are indispensable.
