Islamic Republic of Mauritania: Second Reviews Under the Arrangements Under the Extended Credit Facility and the Extended Fund Facility, Requests for Modification of Performance Criteria and a Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criterion, and First Review Under the Arrangement Under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility-Press Release; and Staff Report

SECONDREVIEWS UNDER THE ARRANGEMENTSUNDERTHE EXTENDED CREDIT FACILITY AND THEEXTENDEDFUND FACILITY, REQUESTS FORMODIFICATION OFPERFORMANCE CRITERIA AND AWAIVER OFNONOBSERVANCE OF PERFORMANCECRITERION, ANDFIRST REVIEW UNDER THEARRANGEMENT UNDER THERESILIENCE ANDSUSTAINABILITY FACILITY—PRESS RELEASE;ANDSTAFF REPORT June 2024 In the context of theSecond Reviews Underthe Arrangements Underthe Extended CreditFacilityandthe Extended Fund Facility, Requestsfor Modificationof Performance CriteriaandaWaiverof Nonobservanceof Performance Criterion,and First Review UndertheArrangement Underthe Resilienceand Sustainability Facility, the followingdocumentshave been released and are included in this package: •APress Release. •TheStaff Reportprepared by a staff team of the IMF for the Executive Board’sconsideration ona lapse-of-time basis,following discussions that ended onMarch 8,2024, with the officials ofthe Islamic Republic of Mauritaniaon economicdevelopments and policies underpinning the IMF arrangement under theExtendedFund Facility. Based on information available at the timeof these discussions, the staffreport was completed onMay 16, 2024. Copies of this report are available to the public from International Monetary Fund•Publication ServicesPO Box 92780•Washington, D.C. 20090Telephone: (202) 623-7430•Fax: (202) 623-7201E-mail:publications@imf.org Web:http://www.imf.org International Monetary FundWashington, D.C. IMF Executive Board Completes the Second Reviews Underthe Extended Credit Facility and the Extended Fund FacilityArrangements and the First Review under the Resilience andSustainability Facility Arrangement for the Islamic Republic ofMauritania FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The IMF Executive Board completed today the second reviews under the Extended CreditFacility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements, and the first reviewunder the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement for the Islamic Republicof Mauritania, enabling the authorities to draw SDR 21.3 million (approximatelyUS$36.84 million). The performance in IMF supported programs under the ECF and EFFarrangements and the RSF arrangement is on track. In 2024, economic growth is expected to improve, while inflation has slowed downsignificantly. However, the economic outlook remains uncertain. Continued implementation of the programs under the ECF and EFF arrangements, and ofthe ambitious reform measures to address climate-related vulnerabilities, supported by theRSF arrangement will help address Mauritania’s medium- and long-term challenges andcatalyze additional financing from donors and the private sector. Washington, DC–June 4, 2024:The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund(IMF) completed today the second reviews under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) andExtended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements1and the first review under the Resilience andSustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement2for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Thecompletion of the reviews allows for an immediate disbursement of SDR 21.3 million(approximately US$36.84 million), of which SDR 2.15 million (about US$3.72 million) underthe ECF arrangement, SDR 4.29 million (about US$7.42 million) under the EFF arrangement,and SDR 14.86 million (about US$ 25.70 million) under the RSF arrangement. The ExecutiveBoard’s decision was taken on a lapse-of-time basis.3 The performance in Fund supported programs under the ECF/EFF arrangements and the RSFarrangement is on track and its implementation has been satisfactory. All end-Decemberquantitative performance criteria (QPCs) were met, except for the deficit of the non-extractiveprimary balance (NEPB) for which a marginal breach was observeddueto an unexpectedproject loan disbursement in December for the statistical agency and for which the ExecutiveBoard granted a waiver of nonobservance. December 2023 and March 2024 SBs were met.The April 2024 reform measure (RM) under the RSF arrangement was also met. In 2024, economic growth is expected to reach 4.3 percent compared to 3.4 percent in 2023,driven by the performance of the non-extractive sector. Inflation has slowed down significantly,turning out at 2.7 percent in March 2024 compared to 8.2 percent in March 2023, reflecting thedownturn in commodity prices and monetary policy tightening. At end- 2023, the NEBP,including grants, amounted to -5.3 percent of GDP (compared to -7.6 percent in 2022). Thecurrent account deficit is estimated to have narrowed to 10.0 percent of GDP in 2023(compared to 14.6 percent at end-2022). International reserves have stabilized and are at anadequate level of 2.0 billion dollars in 2023 (6.3 months of prospective non extractive imports). The economic outlook remains uncertain. An escalation of geopolitical tensions could affectMauritania through new terms of trade shocks. Climate disasters could cause deterioration ininfrastructure, arable lands, and agriculture production, and keeping food insecurity relativelyhi