Guinea PM says country's economy will rebound soon

The Guinean economy will soon rebound due to internal efforts being undertaken by the government, said Guinea Prime Minister Mamady Youla Thursday.

He said the government plans to immediately initiate structural reforms whose objective is to ensure state institutions serve the population.

The prime minister recalled that Guinea's economy recorded zero growth in 2015 due to the health crisis linked to the Ebola epidemic, as well as the drop in prices of minerals such as bauxite and iron ore on the international market.

He cited the example of iron ore whose price per ton dropped from 137 U.S. dollars in 2011 to 39 dollars in 2015. He noted that this led to a loss of over 235 million dollars to the Guinean economy in 2015.

However, he said, due to efforts undertaken by the government to revive the economy, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank provided necessary funding to support the development of priority sectors.

"Today, it is forecasted that our economy will grow at 4 percent in 2016," Youla said, adding that a recent agreement signed with the European Union will see the country get a credit facility of 90 million dollars. Endit