In a report launched recently to assess The Gambia’s progress on the Millennium Development Goals, Minister Kebba Touray said aid required to solve the country’s development needs remains inadequate.
The report stated: “The Gambia was one of the signatories of the Millennium Declaration in 2000 which is a framework intended to solve development problems across the world through aid, trade, debt relief and enhanced international partnerships. Goal 8 provides the framework for mobilising resources to finance the remaining seven MDGs. In 2012, it is observed that the total amount of development aid pledged to The Gambia was about 144 million dollars and the amount disbursed was about 164 million dollars. The higher disbursement figure resulted from the fulfillment of pledges that were made before 2012. Out of the 164 million dollars disbursed the World Bank accounts for the highest proportion with 45.6 percent. This was followed by EC (12.4%), UNDP (10.8%), and IMF (8.7%).
“Almost all the support from World Bank, Global Fund and the UN system in the country were grants while support from the International Development Bank and the African Development Bank were either grants or loans. In terms of sectoral intervention, IDB is mainly involved in transportation, energy and agriculture. Global Fund is the main partner in the health sector while the World Bank and the International Development Agency are the major partners in education. The African Development Bank is the major partner in agriculture while the UN system is into agriculture, health, education and social/multi-sector areas.”
“The Gambia made a commitment to manage aid effectively and to be guided by the principles of good governance for the period under review (2011). This was the final year of the second generation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The Gambia benefitted from aid flows from various development partners to implement MDG related interventions. But one recurrent feature thus far concerning development financing is the inadequacy of aid to undertake the necessary projects and programmes for achieving the MDG targets at country level.”
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