Cape Verde will ask the IMF for a three-month extension, moving the end date from January to March 2027, to complete its Extended Credit Facility and its climate-focused Resilience and Sustainability Facility, Secretary of State for Finance Maria José Lopes said on November 6 as an IMF mission ended. She cited complex reforms across ministries, missing documents and unapproved 2023–2025 accounts at state airline TACV, according to the finance ministry and Lusa.
Analysis: IMF staff agreed the eighth loan review in May, yet this mission covered it again alongside the ninth, suggesting it never reached the IMF's Executive Board. Completing the eighth loan review and the fourth climate review would release up to about SDR 7.6mn, by our calculation. The delay is not about the economy. The IMF put reserves at about €1.17bn at the end of October, more than seven months of projected imports, with the current account in surplus in the first half. Mission chief Martin Schindler welcomed the 2027 primary surplus target of about 3bn CVE (€27.2mn) but stressed realistic revenue projections. The IMF board must approve the extension, and no date has been published.
Source: Expresso das Ilhas, Lusa via Expresso das Ilhas, November 6, 2026, January-March 2027 and 2023-2025; Ministério das Finanças de Cabo Verde, Finance ministry news release, November 6, 2026, on the close of the IMF mission, 2027; Notícias ao Minuto / Lusa, Lusa via Notícias ao Minuto, November 6, 2026, 2027; Ministério das Finanças de Cabo Verde, Finance ministry news release, November 6, 2026, End-October 2026 and H1 2026; International Monetary Fund, IMF Press Release 26/146, May 8, 2026, Eighth ECF review (staff-level agreement May 8, 2026) and Fourth RSF review (staff-level agreement May 8, 2026); RTP / Lusa, RTP Notícias (Lusa), 'Cabo Verde e FMI vão avaliar novos apoios apenas após fim dos programas atuais', October 13, 2026, 2022–2026 and 2023–2026