The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday approved a three-year, $157.6 million credit facility for Burkina Faso, in part to help boost security after a spate of attacks by Islamist insurgents.
Jihadists linked to al Qaeda killed eight people during an attack on the French embassy and the army headquarters in the capital Ouagadougou this month, the third major attack there in just over two years.
"Burkina Faso faces significant development challenges, which have intensified in the recent period due to security shocks and social unrest," said IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa in a statement.
The agricultural economy is expected to grow 6 percent this year, down from 6.5 percent in 2017, but above the 5.9 percent in 2016, the IMF said, driven by cotton production and mining.
- Reuters
