The International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not take into consideration a country's size when deciding to help out financially, but rather that country's economic potential.

This was said by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Jeremie Bonnelame, during Question Time in the National Assembly on Tuesday May 27.

Minister Bonnelame was answering a question put forward by the MNA for Grand Anse Mahe, Honourable Waven William, who wanted to know if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) took into consideration the size of the countries, especially small island states like Seychelles, when making decisions to help out financially.

Minister Bonnelame explained that IMF was not an international organisation that gave financial support but rather a money lending institution that has its own set of criteria.

For many years, he said, small island states had expressed the wish that their size be taken into consideration when mapping out international relation protocols, especially financial ones, but nothing concrete had come out of the studies conducted by different world organisations like the World Bank, the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the European Union.

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