Friday, October 05, 2007

Senegal's donors agree to give four billion dollars

from Yahoo News

DAKAR (AFP) - Senegal's main donors on Thursday pledged to extend four billion dollars in financial aid to the west African country over a three year period until 2010, the World Bank said.

"Senegal's partners committed themselves to provide 3.945 million dollars in financial assistance between 2007 and 2010," said a World Bank statement released at the end of a two day meeting in Paris of the donors' advisors.

These funds, to be used to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty, are 1.3 billion dollars more than what the west African country had sought.

Senegalese Prime Minister Sheik Hadjibou Soumare said the government wanted to reduce poverty levels to under 30 percent from more than 42 percent recorded in 2005.

World Bank director of operations in Senegal Madani Tall stressed that the country needed "to improve on governance, the fight against corruption and promote the efficient management of public funds."

The financial backers are however nervous at slowing economic growth which dropped from five percent in 2005 to 2.1 percent last year.

Senegal's advisory group icludes the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission, the United Nations Development Programme, former colonial power France and the United States Development Agency (USAID).

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