Sociolingo’s Mali

One of the things my kids (now grown up with kids of their own) reminisce about from their life in West Africa is mangoes fresh from the tree. They both loved green mangoes, a peculiarly teenage phenomenon as far as I was concerned, sour and acidic. I can get mangoes here in the UK, but they are a shadow of the freshly picked, ripened on the tree version. I was pleased to spot a photo essay on BBC NEWS specifically on mangoes from Mali. We used to drive out along the Sibi road for picnics and it was a joy to get the first mangoes of the year from road side stalls. I say stalls but really it would be just a few piles of mangoes on a cloth, or maybe on a rickety table or in large washing buckets. None of the ladies spoke any French so I had to struggle with the Bambara money system, based on 5. I never really felt i had a handle on it. But it gave them a laugh anyway.

Here are some delightful pictures courtesy of BBC:
In pictures: Mali’s mangos (click here to go to the photo essay and notes)

Djenaba Coulibaly is having a good season. She sells the mangos everyday at Sibi’s market, and gets about $1 for every 30 mangos.“I can look after my family with the money, and buy clothes for the children. But this year I’m going to treat myself,” she says.

Short season

Attempts are being made to diversify the industry and develop the income-generating potential of those - mostly women - who work in it.At the Jeka Bara co-operative in the Sebenikoro district of Bamako, a group of 17 women are having some success in maximising their income. “I’m going to get some new clothes, some really nice food and even a beautiful pair of new shoes.” This is important as the mango season is a short one - beginning in February and lasting between two to three months.

See the rest of the photos

Source: IMF

Mali: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

Mali: Joint Staff Advisory Note of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

Source: Rural Poverty Portal

Multilaterals

Délégation de la commission européenne
Stratégie de coopération et programme indicatif 2003-2007

International Monetary Fund  (IMF)

• Policy framework paper
• Poverty reduction strategy papers

Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD)

• Cadre de coopération du Mali
• Cadre de coopération de pays 1998-2002
• Cadre de résultats stratégiques
• Ebauche de programme de pays avec le Mali 2003-2007
• Bonne gouvernance
• VIH/Sida

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

• Country programme for Mali 2003-2007
• Cadre stratégique de lutte contre la pauvreté (CSLP)
• Plan-cadre des Nations Unies pour l’aide au développement au Mali (UNDAF)
• Bilan commun pays - Mali 2001 (CCA)

World Bank

• Country assistance strategy
• Mali poverty reduction strategy papers
• Comprehensive development framework

World Food Programme (WFP)

• Country strategy outlines | Schéma de stratégie de pays
• Country programme 2003-2007 | Programme de pays 2003-2007

Bilaterals Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Programming  framework

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)

• GTZ in Mali
• Priority areas

Groupe Agence française de développement (AFD)
Activité du groupe au Mali

KfW Entwicklungsbank

• Overview
• Priority areas

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

• Stratégie de la Coopération Suisse au Mali 2006-2011
• Development cooperation

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

• Country strategic plan 2003-2012
• Complete USAID/Mali program

Source: Rural Poverty Portal

Rural poverty approaches, policies and strategies in Mali

In May 2002 the Government of Mali issued its first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), outlining its general strategy for poverty reduction. The 2002-2006 PRSP led to an improvement in Malians’ living conditions, especially in their access to education, health care and water. But weak economic growth hindered any significant reduction in rural poverty. This prompted the government to make development of productive sectors and production support infrastructure the core of its poverty reduction strategy.

The new PRSP, designated the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, covers the period 2007-2011 and focuses on two specific objectives:

• spurring economic growth by developing the rural production and mining sectors
• promoting the well-being of poor people by maintaining the momentum of initiatives in the social sector and strengthening them through reforms geared to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

For more information:
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), 2002

Source:IFAD

Source: IMF

Working Paper No. 07/295: Modeling Inflation for Mali

Author/Editor: Diouf, Mame Astou

Summary: This paper investigates how consumer price inflation is determined in Mali for 1979-2006 along three macroeconomic explanations: (1) monetarist theories, emphasizing the impact of excess money supply, (2) the structuralist hypothesis, stressing the impact of supply-side constraints, and (3) external theories, describing the effects of foreign transmission mechanisms on a small open economy. The analysis makes use of cointegration techniques and general-to-specific modeling. Average national rainfall, and to a lesser extent deviations from monetary and external sector equilibrium are found to be the main long-run determinants of inflation. The paper offers policy recommendations for controlling inflation in Mali.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=21518.0

News from the IMF

http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2007/pr07244.htm 

IMF Executive Board Completes Sixth Review Under Mali’s PRGF Arrangement and Approves US$2.1 Million Disbursement
Press Release No. 07/244
October 31, 2007The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the sixth and final review of Mali’s economic performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement. The completion of the review allows the release of SDR 1.34 million (about US$2.1 million) to Mali, which will bring the total amount drawn under the arrangement to SDR 9.33 million (about US$14.6 million).In completing the review, the Executive Board also approved Mali’s request for waivers of nonobservance of performance criteria pertaining to the implementation of two structural performance criteria on the Caisse des Retraites du Mali (CRM) and the Banque de l’Habitat du Mali (BHM) as well as the nonobservance of the performance criterion on the concessionality of external financing. The Executive Board also approved a short extension of the arrangement to November 30, 2007 to allow the final disbursement. The three-year PRGF arrangement with Mali was approved on June 23, 2004 (see Press Release No. 04/125) in a total amount of SDR 9.33 million (about US$14.6 million).

The PRGF is the IMF’s concessional facility for low-income countries. PRGF-supported programs are based on country-owned poverty reduction strategies that are adopted in a participatory process involving civil society and development partners and articulated in the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. This is intended to ensure that PRGF-supported programs are consistent with a comprehensive framework for macroeconomic, structural, and social policies to foster growth and reduce poverty. PRGF loans carry an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent and are repayable over 10 years with a 5½-year grace period on principal payments.

Following today’s Executive Board discussion of Mali, Mr. Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, stated:

“Mali’s economic program supported by the IMF through its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility has broadly succeeded in maintaining macroeconomic stability. As a result of the authorities’ efforts and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, the public debt is well within sustainable levels. However, economic growth per capita remains below the level required to significantly reduce poverty or achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the economy remains highly vulnerable to external shocks.

“Mali needs to accelerate growth and poverty reduction through vigorous implementation of structural reform. Important reforms are under way, although implementation of some measures under the program has remained incomplete. A key reform would be to disengage the government from commercial activities, including those in the cotton, banking, and telecommunications sectors. In this context, the authorities’ renewed commitment to restructure the state-owned housing bank and improve governance at the loss-making state-owned cotton ginning and energy companies is welcome.

“Fiscal policy should maintain its focus on macroeconomic stability. The authorities are committed to closing the 2008 budget financing gap through spending measures, if necessary, while protecting social outlays. It will be important that legislation to reform the civil service pension fund be submitted to the national assembly soon, as it remains essential to longer-term fiscal sustainability.

“It is important to keep strengthening debt management and increasing the transparency of borrowing. The recent nonconcessional financing for the electricity sector was an exceptional stop-gap measure in response to urgent needs for power generation. Going forward, it will be important to avoid recourse to high-cost financing to maintain debt sustainability.

“With a renewed political mandate, the authorities have an opportunity to reinvigorate the reform agenda. Implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy through a detailed action plan could give a renewed impetus to reforms and accelerate progress towards achieving the MDGs,” Mr. Portugal said.

This is a telling report about Mali and US cotton subsidies - and they wonder why they are unpopular!

“If BT cotton is so profitable, why do they have to subsidise their cotton farmers with billions of dollars in the United States?” Ms Samake asks.

“Our farmers in West Africa achieve record production using just their digging sticks and regular seeds and they have great difficulty selling what they produce, because subsidies in America and Europe have made the world price for cotton fall.

“So why do they come now with their GMOs and technology to solve a problem that they created? It’s a big farce!” adds Ms Samake, who is a member of the Coalition to Protect Mali’s Genetic Heritage that formed when word leaked from IER about the USAid-funded project on BT crops.”

Yesterday I wrote about the World Bank ‘giving’ $35 million dollars to Mali for education as part of the World Bank Education Sector Investment Program II. I did a bit more research and found a World Bank statement on it. This makes it quite clear that it is a loan not a gift. There is a 10 year ‘grace period’ where Mali does not have to pay back the loan and the loan has to be paid back in 40 years. Here is a portion of the Press Release from the World Bank:

The project will support the set up of a reading area for 25 percent of classrooms, the transfer of grants to all schools of basic education having an operational School Management Committee, training to certify 3,000 teachers and recruit 1,800 new teachers, along with equipping teacher libraries. It aims to construct and equip primary and secondary schools, while introducing vocational training through apprenticeship. The project will also improve education service delivery through a variety of mechanisms, such as the creation of a school mapping system, textbook management, and annual audits.

 

*The credit is provided on standard International Development Association (IDA) terms, with a commitment fee of 0.35 percent, a service charge of 0.75 percent over a 40 year period of maturity which includes a 10-year grace period

There has been great publicity about debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) since 1996. Not long ago Mali, along with many other countries was the recipient of yet another round of this debt relief after fulfilling the stringent requirements/conditions demanded. The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group published Debt Relief for the Poorest: An Evaluation Update of the HIPC Initiative this year (2006). The AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER - UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA states that

‘the report notes that net transfers to HIPC countries doubled from $8.8 billion in 1999 to $17.5 billion in 2004. These additional resources have increased budget flexibility on supporting social programs. But changes in exchange rates as well as new borrowing have left program graduates Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Mali with newly unsustainable levels of debt’.

For me this raises even more questions:

• Does this mean that Mali is getting back into the same situation again?
• Are loans to countries like Mali, who are realistically never going to be able to pay them back, really the best way to achieve the Millenium Development Goals - which are being pushed by the very lenders (i.e. World Bank) who encourage the decent into debt in the first place?