Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe

Growth in the first half of the year was subdued, as the stronger stimulus expected from a timely execution of public investment projects failed to materialize because of the delayed disbursements of external financing. There was also a large fiscal slippage in the first half of the year ahead of the presidential elections. Two end-June program performance criteria and a structural benchmark (SB) were missed, but the targets for the year remain attainable.