11 Oct 2006

Vanuatu leading region in public finance management, says EU

8:01 pm on 11 October 2006

The European Union says Vanuatu's positive economic reforms make it uniquely placed in the region to receive EU budgetary support.

Ther EU has just signed off its second annual release of over 900,000 US dollars to the Vanuatu government for general budgetary support.

The EU Charge d'Affaires in Vanuatu, Nicolas Martinez Berlanga, says the contribution will be evaluated every year against a series of indicators linked to development policies, especially in social sectors like education and health.

He says Vanuatu is the only Pacific island state receiving budgetary support from the EU because its public finance management is of a higher standard than the other island nations.

"I can tell you that in terms of developing countries, we do it in about twenty-five/thirty countries out of 100 developing countries that we assist, and only those with higher standards in public finances receive budgetary support because the advantage of budgetary support is that you fully use government structure institutions."

Nicolas Martinez Berlanga