EU gives €114 million for poverty reduction

Tanzania is among five countries scheduled to receive EC funding to help eradicate poverty, the EC announced on Friday. In a statement, the EC said it would provide €114 million (€1 = US $1.17) for Tanzania, €90 million for Niger, €90 million for Madagascar, €50 million for Chad and €21 million for Namibia. "As a Millennium Development Goal, combating poverty in developing countries is one of the EU's top priorities," Poul Nielson, the commissioner for EC's Development and Humanitarian Aid, was quoted as saying. He added, "These five programmes will help to improve the lives of millions of people across Africa, delivering long-term, structured support implemented in collaborative partnership with governments and NGOs." The EC said it was striving to ensure that development funds were used as effectively as possible to reduce poverty and promote economic growth. It said its aid to Tanzania was given because the government was committed to reducing poverty, through its Poverty Reduction Strategy, formulated in 2000. The strategy focuses on achieving real GDP growth rates of 6 percent per annum, by developing sustainable agriculture, mining and tourism; and reducing by half the percentage of the population living below the basic poverty line between 2000 and 2010, the EC reported. The EC's latest programme would contribute significantly to the implementation of this strategy, providing the €114 million between 2003 and 2006, of which €109 million would comprise direct budgetary support to underpin the government's medium-term fiscal framework, and the remaining €5 million would go to technical aid.