Washington, United States, 14 Nov – The World Bank said Tuesday in Washington it had approved US$70 million in funding for macroeconomic management, governance and economic development projects in Mozambique, with the aim of fighting poverty.

Public administration will be the main beneficiary of the funding, in order to boost macroeconomic management, with around 40 percent of the total investment, according to the indicative program announced in Washington.

The projects included are the continued application of the state financial administration information technology (e-SISTAFE), strengthening of tax authorities, creation of a state procurement center and increasing the coverage and efficiency of internal and external auditing organisms.

Within the area of governance a census is due to be carried out to determine the number of public workers, a first step in creating an integrated salary management system.

As for economic development, the document noted that the aim was to “support the efforts of the government to increase investment in maintenance and rebuilding of roads, expanding irrigated areas and the number of farmers that benefit from extension services, in order to increase the adoption of new technologies.”

The Mozambican primary sector is expected to increase around 20 percent of funds, a similar amount to that of regional administration and double that earmarked for industry and trade (10 percent) and the financial sector (10 percent). (macauhub)