For 2007, the direct budget support from this group, known as the Programme Aid Partners (PAP), is 369 million dollars.
Subtracting the 2008 pledge from Austria (which only joined the PAP in April), the increase is four per cent.
But it could have been more. A press statement from the PAP Secretariat noted that, after taking account of the government's performance in 2006, many of the PAP members "decided to maintain the same level of support for 2008 as for 2007, instead of increasing it as had been envisaged".
At the ceremony to deliver the pledges for 2008 to the government, the PAP chairperson, Norwegian ambassador Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether, said that the April Joint Review between the government and its partners of performance in 2006 showed "there were good results in some areas, but in other areas the poor performance is a matter of concern".
The areas needing "special attention", he added, included "legal reform, productivity in agriculture, the provision of public services, and the fight against corruption".
"In order to maintain our relationship based on trust, we need results and an open dialogue around these questions - whether political or economic", said the ambassador.
Although the Joint Review allowed the conclusion that enough progress was made in 2006 to continue the same level of direct budget support, some partners scaled back their commitment "because of the poor performance".
Answering questions from reporters, Gaustadsaether named Germany in particular. He said Germany had planned to increase its budget support by 50 per cent - from 10 million euros in 2007 to 15 million in 2008. But it had second thoughts, and the German commitment to 2008 is now 12.5 million euros (14.2 million US dollars).
Asked what specific criticisms he had of the government's approach to corruption, the ambassador said "more intensive work is needed. There is an anti-corruption strategy in place, and it is necessary to implement it".
The 19 PAP members have also pledged 241 million in sector aid for 2008 (that is, aid which is earmarked for particular programmes, rather then channelled to the budget). This is an increase on 223 million pledged for this year, The Minister of Planning and Development, Aiuba Cuereneia, who received the pledges, said that the support from the PAP members amounted to a third of the country's total foreign aid.
Cuereneia said the government was committed to improving performance in the areas regarded as weak in the Joint Review. It was particularly concerned with increasing production and productivity in agriculture, and boosting all those factors that contribute to agricultural growth.
As for the longstanding complaint that donor money is disbursed late, Cuereneia said that in recent years the PAP members had tended to disburse on time. The situation was "improving year after year".
The breakdown of the pledges show that nine PAP members (the World Bank, the African Development Bank, Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland) are keeping their 2008 budget support to exactly the same level as in 2007.
But nine others (Germany, Canada, the European Commission, Finland, Ireland, Spain, Norway, Britain and Sweden) have decided to increase their support - in some cases very significantly.
Some of the smaller donors promise to increase their budget support by 50 per cent or more. The largest percentage increase was pledged by Spain - a 67 per cent increase, from three million to five million euros.
Canadian budget support rises by exactly 50 per cent, from five million to 7.5 million Canadian dollars (6.1 million US dollars), while the Finnish contribution rises by 40 per cent, from five to seven million euros.
The largest donor in the PAP group is Britain, which promises to increase budget support ny 14 per cent from 36 million to 41 million pounds (70.7 million US dollars, at the exchange rate used for the 2007 budget).
At the Thursday ceremony the government also unveiled a data base on foreign aid, accessible through a website. Through this site (www.odamoz.org.mz) it is possible to look at aid by donor, by sector, by province, by project, and by each of the Millennium Development Goals.
Currently this data base contains all the aid entering the country from 21 donors and funding agencies, and 10 United Nations agencies. The government hopes to expand it to include other partners such as China and South Africa.
The data base, said Cuereneia, will allow both the government and its partners to monitor and control the disbursement of aid.
SOURCE: AIM
