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21 Jul 2023
IMF Executive Board Concludes 2023 Article IV Consultation with Tuvalu
A successful vaccination strategy allowed Tuvalu to lift COVID containment measures at the end of 2022, but the economic cost of the pandemic has been significant. Real GDP growth was -4.3 percent in 2020, with at-the-border containment measures leading to delays in much-needed infrastructure projects. Activity has not fully recovered to its pre-pandemic level, with growth in 2021 at 1.8 percent and estimated at 0.7 percent for 2022. Headline inflation rose to 11.5 percent in 2022 in the context of higher global inflationary pressures, an increase in transportation costs around the world, and the increase in global food prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Fiscal savings from the pandemic-related reduction in public investment were partly offset by elevated spending on non-capital items.
