Caribbean & Central America - May 2011 (ISSN 1741-4458)

IMF: The IMF has completed the sixth review of Nicaragua’s economic performance under its Extended Credit Facility (ECF) -formerly known as the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility-, allowing an immediate disbursement of US$8.95m. The announcement follows a report released by the Ortega administration regarding Venezuelan cooperation the previous month [RC-11-04], one of requirements laid down by the Fund for the country program to continue. The IMF‘s executive board had approved a three-year ECF for about US$111m in October 2007, which was increased by about US$10m in September 2008 to allow Nicaragua to cope with the natural disasters of 2007. In November 2010, the IMF approved an extension of the arrangement to December 2011.