From All Africa

The European Commission (EC) has announced an extension of its aid portfolio to Liberia in the tune of $384.07 million for the period 2014 – 2020, effectively laying to rest, the 13 million dollar reported missing in the health sector.

At the time of the controversy, Ministry of Finance officials had insisted the money was part of the fiscal budget and hence was no new allocation as speculated in the media.

But recently in Brussels, the European Commission extended its support to Liberia, with most of the funding committed through the budget support mechanism under the 11th European Development Fund.

According to a press release, since 2009/10 the European Union has provided direct financing to Liberia’s development programs through the “budget support” framework.

Budget support is an evolving aid platform that involves policy dialogue, financial transfers to the national treasury of the partner countries, performance assessment and capacity-building, based on partnership and mutual accountability. This mechanism allows for state oversight and implementation of programs agreed within the scope of the EU aid program.

The release said in the last fiscal budget, US$13 Million was provided to the Government of Liberia as part of the fiscal budget towards the health sector and an additional US$18 Million as general budget support. For this fiscal year, the EU has committed to provide another 13 million as budget support to the health sector.

Read more at allafrica.com