The International Monetary Fund gave its backing to Nigeria's homegrown economic reforms on Monday, which could open the way for Africa's top oil producer to win debt forgiveness from the West. IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato's support comes at the start of a week-long tour to Africa, which has been overshadowed by U.S. intelligence warnings of threats of an al-Qaeda attacks on the IMF, World Bank and New York Stock Exchange. The warnings failed to deter Rato, who said after arriving in the Nigerian capital Abuja: "Terrorism is an enemy of all persons and institutions that are related to freedom." Washington issued a "high" level alert for financial institutions in New York and Washington on Sunday. Rato met Nigeria's reformist economic team, including Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former senior World Bank official, and Charles Soludo, the country's central bank governor, who are pursuing a radical reform agenda in the impoverished OPEC member country. Rato said the global lender agreed to Nigeria's request for quarterly reviews of its reform programme, which seeks to impose more discipline in a country long hobbled by erratic growth and dependence on volatile oil prices. Nigeria pulled out of a $1 billion IMF adjustment programme in August 2002 after failing to meet spending and exchange rate targets. Now, it has come back to the fund on its own terms and wants the IMF stamp of approval to win the confidence of creditors and investors. --More 2320 Local Time 2020 GMT
