The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) through its President, Donald Kaberuka, declared in Brussels the Institution’s support to the crisis exit efforts and revival of Malian economy making available to this country the amount of 240 million euros. This declaration was made at the donors’ conference on Mali hosted by France and the European Union in Belgium.
This assistance, granted through the African Development Fund (ADF) concerns four areas: budget support; specific assistance to economic governance for the capacity building of the administration, assistance to strengthen basic social services in an advanced state of disrepair- particularly in health and education in the country as a whole and especially in the north; and revival of the private sector through debt reduction.
The AfDB will also fund the realization of the Bamako drinking water supply project to the tune of 56 million euros, or about 37 billion CFAF. This project is of utmost importance given the pressing needs of the many displaced populations fleeing the war in the northern regions. Other interventions will go towards agriculture and food security in the regions of Koulikoro, Sikasso and Ségou in the amount of 35 million euros, or 23 billion CFAF.
In his declaration, the President of the premier African finance institution acknowledged the mobilization to the aid and assistance of Mali: « This conference is proof enough that together and hand in hand we can provide some of the solutions that Mali and the Sahel region need to do away once and for all with fragility and instability ».