... .For Budget Support
The European Union says it has transferred a non-reimbursable grant amounting to EUR 6 million (around USD 7 million) to the Government of Liberia at the end of August.
The grant, according to the EU statement, arrived on 12 September 2018 in the revenue account of the Government to support the budget of the country.
"This was the first payment under the EU's new budget support programme called "Moving Liberia forward - improving service delivery and public investment," the statement said.
According to the EU, agreement for the money was signed in May 2018 following the peaceful 2017 Liberian legislative and presidential elections and the first transition of power from one democratically elected leader to another one since 1944.
Disbursement of this first payment, the statement said, comes after a positive decision of the Budget Support Steering Committee of the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development in July 2018.
Ambassador Hélène Cavé, Head of the European Union Delegation to Liberia, is quoted as saying, "I am very happy that we managed to provide this EUR 6 million budget support to the Government. We hope it will help to move Liberia forward and put people first by providing essential services and investment to the benefit of Liberian citizens who are facing challenging times.
Sound economic policies and the formulation of a realistic pro-poor agenda will be at the heart of our policy dialogue in the coming months.
" She added, "Budget Support is another instrument the EU uses to strengthen good governance, accountability and transparency in addition to our projects supporting external audit implemented by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and access to information."
The European Union said its budget support programme for Liberia, called "European Union State Building Contract with Liberia: Moving Liberia forward - Improving service delivery and public investment", was signed in May 2018, and it is part of the 2014-2020 National Indicative Programmes, already adopted by the EU Member States in November 2017 and covers three years.
The EU said the State-building Contract has a total value of EUR 27 million (approx. USD 31.5 million) over three years which will be paid in stages.
They include EUR 24 million General budget support; EUR 3 million Support measures in the areas of Public Financial Management and Statistics.
The statement said 2018-EUR 6 million fixed tranche subject to meeting general conditions for EU budget support will be paid, 2019 - EUR 3 million fixed tranche subject to general conditions and EUR 6 million variable tranche linked to specific conditions, 2020 - EUR 3 million fixed tranche subject to general conditions, EUR 6 million variable tranche linked to specific conditions
The general conditions of the Financing Agreement the EU said are formulation, approval and satisfactory progress in the implementation of a successor public policy and continued credibility and relevance thereof.
