By: Kebba AF Touray
The European Union has given financial assistance worth 55 million Euro as budget support and good governance in the country, to The Government of the Gambia. The information was conveyed in a Press Release and below is the excerpt.
‘‘On November 08, 2018, a new programme of budget support was formally validated. The European Commission has decided to give € 55 million to help The Gambia’s sustainable and inclusive growth. The State and Resilience Building Contract, will support the democratic transition period of the country. It will contribute to improve Governance, Public Financial Management and Service delivery. The duration of this new programme will be of two years for the Budget Support component and three years for the Technical Assistance part.
With the transition to a democratic regime, the EU opened a new chapter in EU-Gambia relations, following the change of government. Since then, a broad and intensive political dialogue between the EU and The Gambia is ongoing.
The release added: “The EU’s immediate priority in The Gambia is indeed to contribute to stabilising the political, security and financial situation of the country, in order to guarantee that democracy takes root and to show to the most vulnerable groups of the population and to the youth, the democratic dividends of the transition.”
The release further stated that the new programme intends to provide predictability of funding at the time the government will need fiscal space to finance basic public service delivery, and the costs of the transition related to the most urgent reforms needed to consolidate democracy, rule of law and public governance, in a still constrained fiscal environment.
It revealed that EU Policy dialogue associated to budget support operations, is considered as a valuable input to monitor the overall ownership of the Government towards the state’s building of objectives and more globally to its transition and reform agenda that the EU intends to support.
“With this programme of Budget Support, the EU should simultaneously and swiftly contribute to the short-term stabilisation of public finances and support the announced political reforms,” says Ambassador Attila LAJOS, Head of EU Delegation in the Republic of The Gambia.”
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