afrol News / A Semana, 4 October - The percentage of Cape Verdeans considered very poor rose from 14 percent in 1989 to 20 percent in 2002, according to figures recently announced by Luxemburg's Minister of Cooperation and Human Aid, Jean-Louis Schiltz, who will begin a one-week visit to the archipelago on today.

Cape Verde has maintained a series of poverty reduction programmes by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the last decade and is often considered as an example of success by the Fund.

The archipelago has become one of Africa's richest nations measure in GDP per capita and is set to lose its status as a least developed country (LDC) within short time. Figures by the government of Luxemburg - one of Cape Verde's main development partners - however demonstrate that increased wealth has not been enough to fight poverty.

According to the Luxemburgian figures, poverty levels actually rose in the most intensive years of IMF anti-poverty programmes. Two years ago, a total of 20 percent of Cape Verdeans were living in poverty, up from 14 percent before the IMF programmes were implemented.

Luxemburgian Minister Schiltz is set to inform the government in Praia about development projects financed by his country, as well as those that have been carried out or are being executed by Luxemburg-based non-governmental organisations in Cape Verde.

In 2003, Luxemburg spent more than 8 million euros in development aid for Cape Verde. The archipelago occupies a key position in the European grand duchy's cooperation programmes. All together, in 2003 Luxemburg applied more than 170 million euros in development aid, a figure that represents 0.8 percent of the country's total GDP.

By Henri Fischbach (in Luxembourg) and afrol News sta

© afrol News / A Semana

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