The IMF which completed a mission to Cape Verde on April 15th issued the following prress release about its findings there:

Statement at the Conclusion of an IMF Mission to Cape Verde

Press Release No. 09/126
April 14, 2009

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Mr. Lamin Leigh, visited Cape Verde during April 3-15, 2009. The purpose of the visit was two-fold: to conduct the sixth review of the Policy Support Instrument (PSI), and to negotiate a one-year extension of the PSI at the request of the Cape Verde authorities. The current three-year PSI arrangement was approved by the IMF Executive Board in July 2006 and is due to expire in July 2009. At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Leigh made the following statement:

“The mission held extensive and productive discussions with government officials, representatives of the private sector and the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, and would like to thank the authorities for their excellent cooperation. Cape Verde’s economic and policy performance remains strong and so far the impact of global shocks remain manageable thanks to sizable buffers built in recent years through prudent macroeconomic management, especially the fiscal space created in the last three years. The sixth PSI review discussions focused on how best to execute the 2009 budget while preserving the external position against the background of the current global economic difficulties; the authorities’ medium-term fiscal framework, and measures to strengthen public financial and debt management and the financial sector.

“Looking ahead, the ongoing global economic difficulties will pose challenges for the Cape Verde economy. While the moderation in GDP growth is likely to stem from the projected global slowdown in tourism and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows, countercyclical fiscal policy will partly mitigate their impact and support economic activity. Inflation would continue to decline to low single digits consistent with the peg to the euro and the high pass-through of international prices in this highly open economy. The outlook is subject to large margins of error given the uncertainty about both the depth and duration of global recession and the resilience of Cape Verde’s economy to previous global economic downturns.

“The mission supports the fiscal stimulus measures that the government has taken to support economic activity in a year when net external demand and private sector growth are expected to weaken. The mission also welcomes the government’s plans to protect social spending in the budget, as the global crisis is likely to hit hardest the poor and vulnerable segments of the population. Monetary management which smoothes short term capital flows continues to be broadly appropriate. Thus, the exchange rate peg continues to be supported by domestic policies and serves Cape Verde well as an anchor for financial stability. Steady progress is also being made in the implementation of structural reforms in particular on improving public debt and financial management and strengthening the financial system.

“IMF staff will continue its close policy dialogue with the Cape Verde government with a view to presenting the sixth review under the PSI for discussion to the IMF Executive Board in June.”

IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

Link to IMF Press Release on Cape Verde

eCape-Verde has just moved host. The previous host though very cheap proved to be quite unreliable and in the end it became very demotivating to constantly find the site down. Other things took over as they tend to do and eCape-Verde got pushed to the side until I had some time to make this move to the new host.

Now that that is done and I admit, it was much easier then I was expecting, the eCape-Verde blog will have a whole new lease of life.

In a statement issued by Cape Verdean news agency Inforpress, Halcyonair Cabo Verde Airways announced the launch of  two new weekly flights to the islands of Fogo and Maio starting form 28 February. This service has been introduced in response to the “huge demand and number of requests,” from the market.

Once the new routes are launched using an ATR-42-320 aircraft, with capacity for 48 passengers, Halcyonair will operate flights to six of the archipelago’s islands.

In partnership with a Cape Verdean tour operator Halcyonair’s aircraft will also operate a charter flight between the islands of Sal and Fogo on a Saturday.

Halcyonair Cabo Verde Airways launched its domestic flights on 31 July, 2008, operating daily to the islands of Sal, S. Vicente and Santiago, and three weekly flights to the island of Boa Vista.

Religious freedom is hard-wired into the constitution of Cape Verde with  religious persecution acknowledged as a crime for which the guilty may spend between 3 months and 3 years behind bars.

Catholicism is the main religion of Cape Verde with around 85% of the populace claiming to be Roman Catholics centering in the dioceses of Mindelo and Santiago de  Cabo Verde.  Other religions reported in the country are Protestants including Evangelists and Adventists, Mormons and Bahá’í.

There is a small but growing Muslim community, many of which are  Senegalese traders or other immigrants from North Africa and around 1% of Cape Verdeans are atheists who profess no religious belief at all.

Cape Verde is one of the eligible countries from which undergraduate students can apply for an OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) Scholarship Award.

The scholarship is intended to support an undergraduate student through his or her higher education with an award of up to US$100,000 spread over a maximum of two years.

To be eligible the applicant must be between 23 and 32 and a graduating student with a Baccalaureate from a four-year, accredited college/university, or its equivalent.

For other eligibility criteria and to learn more about this sponsorship opportunity please visit the OPIC website.

A flight from Copenhagen to Cape Verde was forced to amke an emergency landing in Casablanca, Morocco yesterday while cabin crew extinguished a small fire.

All 239 passengers disembarked while Danish company  Star Tours set about organising alternative transport to their final destination. No-one was hurt and no reason for the fire has been announced.

The 2009 Index of Economic Freedom ranked Cape Verde 77th in the scale of overall economic freedoms. This is an improvement of 3.4% and places Cape Verde in the ‘Mostly Free’ bracket.

The Index combines several comparative measures to assess an individuals financial freedom and economic liberty as described in the FAQ pages of the report.

The highest form of economic freedom provides an absolute right of property ownership, fully realized freedoms of movement for labor, capital, and goods, and an absolute absence of coercion or constraint of economic liberty beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty itself. In other words, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, and that freedom is both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state.

During his recent trip to Havana, PM Jose Maria Pereira Neves announced that the Cape Verde government would consider opening a medical faculty to train doctors and medical specialists with the help of Cuban expertise.

There are approximately 60 Cubans currently working at a professional level in Cape Verde, 47 of these are in the health sector so this initiative could be expected to increase these numbers.

The origins of the Cape Verdean Funaná may be shrouded in mystery and it may have been seen as a low form of entertainment- peasant music - by the moneyed and travelled few but there is no doubt that the music stirs the soul and livens up any party.

If you are travelling to Cape Verde on holiday you can expect your heart and hips to have a good workout at least once during the trip…

The Economic Regulation Agency (ARE) had initially indicated to news agency A Semana Online that fuel prices would be reduced from January 20th however with conditions favouring an earlier drop, the costs of diesel went down yesterday from 125 to 112.4 escudos per litre.