The government is expected to finalise a new poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP)-a national development strategy that is often required for development programmes with the IMF and World Bank-before the middle of 2011, and a draft has already been shared with key development partners. In addition to improvements in the provision of basic public services, such as healthcare and education, the government will focus on efforts to maintain economic stability and improve the efficiency of the public administration, as well as improving energy and transportation infrastructure to reduce the cost of exploiting the country's natural resources. Protests across the country, along the lines of protests elsewhere in the Arab world, have also led the government to offer large food price subsidies as well as promises of public-sector job creation to employ educated youth. The government will continue to engineer popular public-spending projects in the next six months in order to placate protestors.

In September 2010 the IMF concluded the first review under the extended credit facility (ECF), which resulted in the disbursement of SDR11m (US$17m), given an overall positive assessment. The programme with the Fund identifies a number of structural reforms, to improve the prudential oversight of the banking sector and to restructure public enterprises, although the government may struggle to reach quantitative performance criteria related to fiscal consolidation in advance of the 2011 legislative elections.