Sharjah24 - AFP: The International Monetary Fund could stop its programme in Somalia in three months if long-postponed national elections encounter fresh delays, a senior official stated, as she began a mission to the troubled Horn of Africa nation on Tuesday.

The IMF's programme in Somalia is due for a review in mid-May, but election delays mean that a new administration may not be ready to endorse planned reforms in time, said Laura Jaramillo Mayor, the fund's mission chief for the country.

"That review of the IMF supportive programme for Somalia needs to be completed by May 17th 2022, if it is not completed by that date the programme automatically terminates," she said in an interview.

That in turn would severely affect the impoverished country's budget and an agreement to reduce its debt from $5.2 billion (4.6 billion euros) in 2018 to a target of $557 million eventually, she added.