Guinea puts 2014 growth at 4.5%

Guinea's economy will grow 4.5 percent in 2014, much higher than 2.5 percent recorded last year, according to the West African country's Finance Ministry. Mohamed Lamine Yayo, a director in of the ministry, on Friday said they post the growth based on reforms initiated and the commitments made by a number of donor countries. The government will take certain measures to guarantee better performance of Guinea's economy this year, he said. In this regard, the government hopes to reduce the inflation rate to 8.5 percent from 10.6 percent in 2013, maintain a stable exchange rate of the Guinean franc (GF) to the U.S. dollar at 7, 000 GF to 1 dollar and keep taxation at around 19.6 percent, which is the standard taxation rate within the West African Monetary Zone. Yayo said the government will maintain budgetary expenditure at 14.8 percent of the GDP. "With social and economic stability, we expect to increase revenue collection by 21 percent and increase expenditure on priority development sectors by 19.5 percent," the director said. In the 2014 state budget, the government will allocate 16.56 percent to the energy sector, coming second after the allocation to recurrent expenditure that mainly includes salaries, according to the official. The education sector will receive 11.67 percent, rural development 6.1 percent and territorial administration 3.41 percent. "I do not want to say that everything is perfect today, but there have been considerable achievements in the last three years, " Yayo said, adding that the reforms have a positive impact on Guinea's economy. With the support of financial donors, he expects extreme poverty to be reduced considerably and living conditions to improve for most of Guineans.