ADB approves clearance of 33 percent of Congo's arrears

The African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant of US $50 million to clear 35 percent of arrears owed to it by the Republic of Congo (ROC), the bank reported on Wednesday. In a statement, ADB said the grant would facilitate the "rapid resumption" of its aid to the country, in conjunction with international financial institutions and the donor community. The bank said this intervention lay within the framework of the new ADB assistance to post-conflicts countries, approved on 19 July 2004. It added that the ROC had fulfilled the conditions required to qualify for an arrears-clearance programme under the bank's framework for post-conflict countries. The bank said Congo's arrears to the bank group amounted to $150 million at the end of 2003. The country has made significant progress in re-establishing peace, improving its governance, restarting the economy, and promoting resettlement, disarmament and re-integration, the bank said. It said the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank had also classified ROC as a post-conflict country. [On the Net: The appraisal report one the ADB website: www.afdb.org ]