Madagascar Development

Antananarivo - The worldwide search for new oil and gas reserves has now reached the island-state of Madagascar off of Africa's eastern coast. So far, 17 international petroleum companies are involved in a race to discover new oil fields on the world's fourth-largest island, according to media reports. The Madagascar Oil company is already pumping oil in the Tsimiroro and Bemolanga regions in the south. Meanwhile the government is considering 25 contracts for awarding production rights, six of them in offshore regions and the other 19 on the island itself. But plans are afoot to more strongly develop the tropical island's coal reserves which are estimated at 135 million tonnes. According to reports, exploitation of reserves in a 50,000-hectare area in the Betioky district south of the Atsimo Andrefana region is soon to get underway. Domestic coal would then as quickly as possible replace the environmentally-damaging charcoal, for the production of which large sections of fo

Mr. Bio Tchané, Director of the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement in Antananarivo on August 22, 2007: "I held constructive discussions today with President Marc Ravalomanana, Minister of Finance and Budget Benjamin Radavidson, Central Bank of Madagascar Governor Frédéric Rasamoely, and other senior officials of the Government of the Republic of Madagascar. I also met with representatives from the private sector and the donor community. "We exchanged views on recent economic developments and prospects for the Malagasy economy, and discussed the ongoing cooperation between the IMF and Madagascar. I congratulated President Ravalomanana for having launched the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP). It provides a clear vision for economic development, with an emphasis on such key areas as responsible governance, infrastructure, education, health, and rural development. The Fund, together with other donors, will continue to provide s