Niger receives $ 43 million from the African Development Bank in budgetary support
Niger has received$ 43 million from the African Development Bank to support its budget.
Approved by the Board of Directors of the Bank, the aid granted to Niger, a country whose economy has been weakened by the sharp fall in uranium its main product. Export, consists of a $ 23 million grant from the Transition Support Facility (TAF) and another $ 20 million grant from the African Development Fund (ADF).
All of this support will be used to support the first phase of the Reform and Economic Resilience Support Program (PARRE). This program covers the fiscal years from 2017 to 2019 in order to strengthen the country's resilience to food and nutrition insecurity through better water management and increased agropastoral productivity. The program also aims to improve domestic revenue mobilization, greater empowerment of women, job creation for youth and environmental protection.
After hailing Niger's economic performance, the Director General of the African Development Bank (ADB) for West Africa, Janvier Litsé, justified the support given to the country, by the need for the Bank to to support the efforts already made by the Government, despite the security challenges increasingly weighing on the country's financial resources.
"The African Development Bank, Niger's strategic partner, is holding this budget support alongside the country, not only to reinforce the efforts already made, but also to accelerate results in priority sectors such as agriculture and electricity infrastructure. , institutional capacities and governance, "assured Mr. Litsé.
In the long term, the program should lead to a clear improvement in the national tax burden, from 13.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016 to 14.4% of GDP in 2019.
In addition to this improvement in tax collection, the Bank's support would reduce the rate of public contracts awarded without a call for tenders in Niger from 51% in 2016 to 15% in 2019.
Added to this is the goal of improving agropastoral productivity, a major challenge for a country facing high birth rates and recurring cycles of drought and famine.
The African Development Bank and Niger enjoy very strong partnership relations, which have been illustrated, for example, by the three-day official visit to Niamey by President Akinwumi Adesina and the Bank's decision to assume the role of head of state. Donors for the Kandadji Dam .
