MASERU — Lesotho achieved a robust growth in economy as compared to other countries globally despite the shocks it experienced over the past years. The shocks included a decline in South African Custom Union (SACU) revenue, drought and floods that seriously affected the agricultural sector to mention a few. The IMF Mission Chief to Lesotho Jiro Honda said this in his presentation on Lesotho’s macroeconomic challenges and the role of IMF during a brief meeting with the local media in Maseru on Friday.
He said the shocks were mitigated by prudent fiscal policies and significant use of the international reserves buffer through fiscal consolidation to put the economy on a firmer footing.
Honda added that in order for Lesotho to achieve sustainable economic growth, fiscal efforts are also needed to restrain recurrent spending while on the other hand the government should improve the public service management reforms for quality delivery of services. He further said private sector development should be enhanced to stimulate growth and create more jobs.
He expressed IMF’s commitment to continue providing technical assistance to Lesotho in order to achieve its long term macro-economic objectives through advice on policies related to macro economy and financial assistance.
‘’According to the recent World Bank rankings on doing business, Lesotho ranks 136 out of 186 surveyed countries and that is a commendable improvement,’’ said the IMF Mission Chief.
— Lena
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