The European Union (E.U.) has today approved a EUR 20.5 million budget support payment to the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) as part of the E.U.’s Somalia State and Resilience Building Contract and Support to Debt Relief Action (SRBC).
The budget support coincides with the FGS and E.U. launching the Joint Operational Roadmap for a renewed engagement between the E.U. and Somalia, which outlines joint priorities for the next two years.
The disbursement of funds aims to assist the FGS in implementing its national development and stabilization plan while staying on track with the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) process.
The E.U. Ambassador to Somalia, Ms. Tiina Intelmann, noted: “With HIPC completion point in sight, Somalia will soon reach a historical milestone, which will bring new opportunities but also challenges. Increasing domestic resource mobilization and further improving financial governance are critical to advancing the economic reform agenda and further the state-building of Somalia. The E.U. looks forward to continue supporting and working closely with Somalia to tackle these challenges to ensure that more and better services are delivered to Somali citizens.”
H.E. Dr. Elmi Mahamoud Nur, Somalia’s Minister of Finance, expressed gratitude for the E.U.’s budget support, recognizing its invaluable contribution to strengthening ongoing reforms and providing essential public services to the people.
Since 2018, EUR 82.9 million has been disbursed to the Federal Government of Somalia under the SRBC program.
The European Union (E.U.) underscored that the E.U. budget support operation had played a vital role in enabling the Federal Republic of Somalia to uphold core state functions, implement macroeconomic stabilization measures, and mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and other concurrent crises, thus averting a severe deterioration of the country’s economic and social situation.
