Mauritania’s Monetary Stability: Navigating the Tightrope Between IMF Prescriptions and National Realities

In the vast economic landscape of Northwest Africa, Mauritania finds itself at a critical crossroads. The nation is grappling with a complex interplay of domestic economic drivers and powerful external pressures, all while its dependence on the international financial system deepens. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in particular, have become central architects in shaping the country’s economic trajectory through structural reform programs.

The Prescription for Balance: A Macroeconomic Tightrope

The approach championed by the IMF is clear and numerically driven: achieve macroeconomic balance. This translates into a relentless focus on reducing budget deficits, controlling the money supply, and reining in inflation. But is this accounting-first approach a cure-all, or does it risk treating the symptoms while ignoring the underlying disease? Critics argue that this framework is rooted more in ledger-book principles than in a holistic vision for development.

The pursuit of financial balance, as defined by specific numerical targets, can come at a steep social cost. When reform is stripped of its social dimension, the result can be an internal economic contraction that weakens the very productive base it aims to strengthen. The consequence for the average Mauritanian is often a palpable decline in purchasing power and a slowdown in economic activity.

The World Bank’s Vision: Redefining the State’s Role

Acting in concert, the World Bank promotes a complementary vision that seeks to fundamentally redefine the state’s function. The model shifts the government from an active producer and planner to a coordinator and guarantor of market mechanisms. While this aligns neatly with neoliberal economic theory, its practical application in Mauritania has produced clear imbalances.

The local private sector, hampered by weak infrastructure, a fragile business climate, and a financial system struggling to mobilize national savings, has not yet been able to shoulder the burden of significant productive investment. This creates a dangerous gap where the state retreats before the private sector is ready to advance.

The Ouguiya’s Decline: A Symptom of a Deeper Malaise

The persistent depreciation of the Mauritanian Ouguiya is a topic of intense discussion. However, to attribute it solely to immediate variables like the trade deficit is to miss the forest for the trees. The currency’s weakness is not merely a monetary phenomenon; it is a stark reflection of a deeper structural flaw in the nation’s productive framework.

The true strength of a national currency is not ultimately measured by the volume of foreign exchange reserves, but by the economy’s inherent capacity to generate added value. When manufacturing weakens, agriculture declines, and investment in productive sectors shrinks, the exchange rate becomes a direct report card on the economy’s failure to create wealth internally.

Charting an Independent Course: Beyond Technical Prescriptions

Mauritania’s own experience suggests that the ‘international prescription’ has yet to deliver on its promise of sustainable growth or reduced economic fragility. In some instances, it has even widened the chasm between stated goals and tangible outcomes on the ground.

This reality demands an independent national vision for economic reform—one that deftly balances the undeniable necessity of financial stability with the urgent requirements of social justice and balanced regional development. Stabilizing the national currency cannot be achieved through central bank interventions alone. It demands a fundamental structural transformation focused on diversifying the productive base, boosting exports, and channeling resources into high value-added sectors.

From an analytical standpoint, the future relationship with international financial institutions should be built on a foundation of parity and complementarity, not guardianship. Mauritania does not reject technical cooperation or the value of global expertise, but it is now called upon to formulate a homegrown reform model, one that is deeply rooted in its unique structural reality and inherent capabilities.

In the final analysis, monetary stability is not an accounting goal to be checked off a list. It is the natural outcome of a productive, diversified economy that enjoys sovereignty over its decisions and possesses institutions with the capacity to shape policies in the supreme national interest.

Source: Original analysis by former minister and economic expert Dr. Khtar Ould Cheibani.