EU Provides 114 Million EURO in budgetary support

The European Union and the government of Tanzania signed on Tuesday, Nov 11, an agreement that will see the EU provide 114 million Euro in budgetary support for the government's work in basic education, primary health, rural roads, water, HIV/AIDS, agriculture and the judiciary over the next two years. The signing of the agreement marked a new stage of EU support to Tanzania, which in 2003 will total 140 million Euro in EU aid, more than any other country in Africa. The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Peniel Lyimo, said that education was an area that the government had tackled. Since launching its universal primary education initiative in 2001, he said, enrolment targets had been surpassed. The EU's resident representative in Tanzania, William Hanna, reported that donors were pleased with the progress that had been made and they were now "looking, with the government, at the question of quality, which is more difficult".

The EU also announced that a proportion of annual support would be triggered automatically if overall reviews of government policies and reforms were considered satisfactory. Lyimo said that the move towards budgetary support was important as the arrangement "minimises transaction costs and harmonises performance benchmarks and dialogue between parties". (IRIN)