Donors pledge $400 mln to tackle poverty in Guinea

from Reuters

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Foreign donors have pledged more than $400 million to tackle poverty in Guinea, aimed at boosting electricity, sanitation, water and food supply in the West African country, the government said on Wednesday.

With the support of the World Bank and the European Union, Guinea organised a two-day donors conference in Paris, which ended on Wednesday, to raise funds for a four-year Poverty Reduction Strategy (SRP).

"Based on preliminary indications, financing pledges for the implementation of the SRP for 2007-2010 exceed $400 million," the government statement said.

"Certain partners have said they will consider providing further funding in the near future."

Guinea contains almost a third of the world's proven reserves of bauxite -- the raw material for aluminium -- but the majority of its people continue to live below the poverty line, amid economic mismanagement and high inflation.

A survey by Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked the former French colony as the most corrupt country in Africa last year.

Reclusive President Lansana Conte, who has ruled Guinea for 23 years, was forced to appoint a consensus prime minister after crippling general strikes by opposition unions earlier this year in which 137 people were killed.