Equatorial Guinea to get loan from IMF for 3-year financing program

The International Monetary Fund has reportedly given a nod for a three-year financing program to help the government of Equatorial Guinea. The move is expected to help the country which is accused by prosecutors from the US to France of squandering the tiny African nation’s oil wealth. Equatorial Guinea's economy reportedly shrank by a third to $13 billion and the financial program is expected to uplift the government of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the longest-serving president in the world. The amount of assistance is yet to be decided by the IMF executive board in December. 

The country seeks $700 million from the IMF informed Finance Minister Cesar Mba Abogo said in an interview in September.

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Wasteful spending in Equatorial Guinea

Back in 2017 the country was as rich as Spain but it now hangs on strings as the oil prices collapsed in 2014. As per World Bank reports, arrears of almost 19% of its gross domestic product have piled up with construction firms in Equatorial Guinea. The investment was diverted in infrastructure instead of social development, claims the report. More than half of the population of about 1.3 million people in the country does not have access to clean water.

Sarah Saadoun, a researcher with Human Rights Watch said to the media that the IMF is not helping a poor country but bailing out a country that has squandered its vast resources through corruption and wasteful spending. It is important how IMF addresses corruption in this case, she added.

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Corrupt son of President

On the other hand, the President's eldest son is deemed as a highly corrupt Vice President for having acquired luxury properties on four continents and assets including Michael Jackson memorabilia. Teodorin has also received a three-year suspended jail term and a $35 million fine from a French court in 2017. He is reported to have spent tens of millions of dollars in public funds on a mansion, sports cars and jewellery in France. The Swiss authorities have raised $27 million in an auction of exclusive cars they’d seized from him, including a limited-edition Lamborghini Veneno roadster that sold for a record $8.4 million, as per reports.

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(With inputs from agencies)