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afrol News, 5 September - The Cape Verdean government has been granted a loan of US$ 3.3 million by the African Development Fund (ADF) to finance its economic reform programmes. The reform programmes and the ADF financing mainly address poverty reduction in Cape Verde. The ADF yesterday announced it had approved a loan of approximately US$ 3.30 million to finance the so-called Economic Reforms Support Programme II (ERSP II) in Cape Verde. This programme falls within the government's present poverty reduction strategy. According to the Fund, the loan aimed to strengthen the programme's macro-economic balances; finalise the privatisation of public enterprises; help reduce poverty; and promote good governance. The ERSP II was created to help consolidate the reforms initiated under the so-called ERSP I (1997-2000), which had been co-financed by the African Development Bank for an amount of approximately US$ 4 million. The AFP says in a statement that the current programme would "contribute to poverty reduction since the adjustment of the macro-economic framework will improve the business environment conducive to private sector development and the establishment of new enterprises that will reduce the unemployment rate." Likewise, the domestic debt settlement exercise would enable the government to "generate resources to finance actions in health and education." As far as women were concerned, because of their active presence in the informal sectors, they would benefit from management training and support to improve their access to micro-credits. Furthermore, the ERSP II was to "enhance the macro-economic performance of Cape Verde by addressing the principal development constraints such as poor human resources development, lapses in the management and economic planning capacities and poor development of private sector," the fund says. The programme is being financed by the ADF, the IMF and the European Union. The ADF loan was to provide additional resources to the Cape Verdean government for a balance of payment support to facilitate the implementation of its reform programme. The loan would seek "primarily to strengthen reforms in the areas of stability of the macro-economic framework, poverty reduction and promotion of governance."
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