Announcement of World Bank Supports Madagascar’s Poverty Reduction Strategy on November 18, 2003

World Bank Supports Madagascar’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Media Contact: Tim Carrington Tel: (202) 473-8133 Email: tcarrington@worldbank.org Washington, November 18, 2003 – The World Bank’s Board of Directors today endorsed the government of Madagascar’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, and approved a US$30 million IDA Credit* to support reforms in the public sector. The credit will support improved public finance and institutional development. And by helping to strengthen management of public resources, the credit is intended to pave the way for broad programmatic lending. The World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy to Madagascar – for fiscal years 2004 through 2006 – is designed to support the implementation of the government’s poverty reduction strategy. The plan entails not only strengthening governance, but spurring broad-based economic growth—particularly in rural areas—and improving human and material security. Among other things the program is designed to bring about improved delivery of government services, particularly in economically marginalized rural areas. The Bank has a set of monitoring indicators in place to determine to what extent the desired outcomes are achieved. The Governance and Institutional Development Project just approved aims to make the public finance system more efficient and to establish accountability of government operations by strengthening internal and external controls. The project will assist the government to bring the public procurement system into line with international standards and strengthen coordination, monitoring and evaluation in the public administration. The project builds on an earlier Public Management Capacity Building Project. “The project will also build and strengthen the capacity of staff in key national institutions to deliver high quality training in areas required for the sustainability of the reforms. A distance learning center will be established in line with the government’s strategy to strengthen the capacity for the provision of in-country training,” said Guenter Heidenhof, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project. In 2002 a new government was elected in Madagascar on an anticorruption platform with strong support from civil society. Since then, Madagascar economic growth has soared to annual growth rate of 9.6%-- one of the highest in the region—and the government has taken steps to both fight corruption and reduce poverty. * The credit is on standard International Development Association (IDA) terms, with a maturity of 40 years, including a 10-year period of grace. For more information on the World Bank’s assistance to Madagascar visit: www.worldbank.org/mg For the Governance project information, please visit: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDS_IBank_Servlet?pcont=details&eid=000094946_03071804010326