The European Union on Monday disbursed €25 million of budget support for The Gambia’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the Team Europe global package, these funds contribute to the recovery from the pandemic and also support the transition towards democracy and medium-term development objectives.
EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said: “With this budget support, the EU is contributing to mitigate the most urgent budgetary needs of The Gambian Government in the context of the pandemic. As The Gambia’s key partner, the European Union encourages the Government to strengthen democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and to take the lead in building the necessary national consensus around the future direction of the democratic transition, with a new Constitution at its core.”
She said, the pandemic constituted an unprecedented global health and economic crisis with detrimental and long-lasting socioeconomic impacts.
“This budget support serves to support The Gambia in tackling its economic and fiscal impact, including loss of government revenue, unforeseen additional expenses and the consequences of global disruptions to supply chains. This will contribute to The Gambia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the democratic transition initiated in 2017.
“Channelled to the National Treasury of The Gambia, the EU funds will be used in accordance with The Gambia’s own Public Financial Management systems and policy priorities. By providing fiscal space to address the pandemic and to continue financing basic public services such as healthcare and education, these funds will support The Gambia’s resilience to the crisis.
“This funding also directly supports the long-term efforts to achieve debt sustainability. In addition, the EU will provide technical assistance and capacity building in areas such as public financial management and statistical development,” she said.