BRITAIN PROMISES INCREASED AID FOR MOZAMBIQUE

The British government has pledged to increase its aid to Mozambique by about four per cent in the next two years, and by a further 6.25 per cent in the following two years.According to a Wednesday statement from the British Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, aid to Mozambique will rise from the 2011 figure of 77 million pounds (about 126 million US dollars) to 80 million pounds in 2012 and 2013, and to 85 million in the subsequent two years. Mitchell said this aid “will support the Mozambican government in its ambition to transform the country into a prosperous centre of regional trade and investment”. He added that support for the Mozambican education and health services will be maintained but the greatest increases in funding will be for projects in “wealth creation and agricultural productivity”. As for direct budget support, the form of aid most favoured by the Mozambican authorities, Mitchell said “It is likely that the support for the general state budget will remain at current levels to start with, but the final decision will be taken at the end of this year”. Britain is currently one of the largest donors of direct budget support“We share Mozambique’s vision of one day overcoming its need for foreign aid”, Mitchell said, “and we believe this will be possible in the early years of the next decade”.He added that Britain “is interested in seeing progress in governance, including in transparency and accountability, bringing rapid improvements in the business environment and in the fight against corruption”.Mitchell said that the current government, a coalition between the Conservative and Liberal Democratic Parties, like the previous Labour government, is committed to raising the amount Britain spends on overseas development aid to 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Project, the target figure for industrialized countries set by the United Nations.Development aid is one of the few areas which the government of Prime Minister David Cameron has spared from savage spending cuts – much to the disgust of some conservatives, and right wing tabloid newspapers. Mitchell recognised this, saying “we have faced criticism from those who think this aid should be cut”.The coalition government has, however, reviewed the aid budget – cutting aid altogether to some countries, while increasing it to others. Mozambique is one of the winners. Other countries to receive significant aid increases include Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh.Countries that will lose funding altogether include Russia, China, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Vietnam, Angola, Burundi and Niger.