In total, contributions actually increased by nine per cent from 1.156 billion US dollars in 2011 to 1.264 billion dollars last year.
This overall growth was due to increased disbursements from the World Bank, European Commission, African Development Bank, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Italy and Belgium.
However, the annual review meeting of G-19 partners in Maputo heard that the majority of donors have reduced their support.
In addition, the United Nations and the United States, who are not members of G-19 but are known as Associate Members, reduced their support from 572 million dollars in 2011 to 464 million dollars in 2012. This represents a 19 per cent drop.
The total aid given by the two groups (G-19 and Associate Members) is pretty much static at 1.729 billion US dollars (an increase of 0.1 per cent).
The Mozambican government considers that, taking into account the current international economic crisis, this is “evidence of the high level of confidence that our partners still have in the country”.
The government proposes that the G-19 partners increase the proportion of aid disbursed through programme aid; increase the proportion of resources targeted at the productive sector; drastically reduce the number of donor missions visiting the country though the increased use of joint missions; and reduce the number of parallel projects. The government also calls for donors to comply with timetables for disbursing funds.
On Friday, the Minister of Planning and Development, Aiuba Cuereneia, lamented that transaction costs were increasing due to poor compliance with timetables for disbursing funds and the growing number of donor missions visiting the country.
He explained that “in 2012 Programme Aid Partners sent a total of 158 missions compared with 137 in 2011”.
The Minister argued that, in order to keep the focus firmly on the implementation of projects, partners should concentrate on sending joint missions to reduce the overall impact.
The G-19 partners are Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Commission, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the World Bank.
Post published in: Africa News