FDA offers 61.7 billion CFAF to finance projects in Burkina Faso

18 Juin 2020

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 18 juin (Infosplusgabon) - The government of Burkina Faso and the French Development Agency (FDA) on Thursday signed four deals and a fund agreement totalling 61.7 billion CFA francs, for financing several development projects and programmes, the Burkinabè Ministry of Economy and Finance announced in a press release.

It said that the first agreement is on budget support of 4.6 billion CFA francs directed to  the fight against coronavirus disease. Half of the amount will be injected in the operating expenses of hospitals and costs  related to the detection and follow-up of cases by rapid intervention teams.

The other half will be transferred to the National Office for Water (ONEA) to compensate for the free cost of water at standpipes, decreed by the President of Burkina Faso as part of social measures.

The second and third agreements concern the financing of the 'Yéleen' programme (structuring investment in the energy sector) through a credit of 45.9 billion CFA francs and a grant of 3.28 billion CFA francs.

Expected achievements will allow an increase in solar energy production capacity of 90 GWh per year, or 9% of national electricity production, supplying electricity to 110,000 people and reducing CO2 emissions.

The fourth agreement is on financing of a capacity building programme for an amount of 1.3 billion CFA francs, backed by sectoral budget support in 2019-2021 already concluded on December 4, 2019.

It is an institutional support for the benefit of the Ministry of the Economy and of the Ministry of Territorial Administration in the implementation of certain reforms and in response to the security and health crisis.

The grant agreement (2020 tranche) relates to the release of the second tranche of 2019-2021 sector budget support. This  support amounts to 19.7 billion CFA francs in the form of a subsidy and will be disbursed in three tranches of 6.6 billion CFA francs, the statement said.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/HGB/GABON2020