In its continued efforts to promote economic growth and reduce poverty in Mali, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a general budget support loan of U.S.$ 53 million for the west African country.

The AfDB Board of Directors approved the loan on 26 October 2011to finance the Second Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Support Programme for Mali (GPRSSP-II). The action follows three years of good economic performance which has resulted in notable poverty reduction in Mali.

The loan is provided by the AfDB's concessional or 'soft loan' arm, the African Development Fund.

The AfDB's previous support to Mali had helped it prepare and execute a national development budget and make economic and financial reforms. The Board considered the success of Malian reform as exemplary. They also considered it a role model other low-income countries where the Bank has aligned poverty strategies to improve business climate, transparency, ownership and decentralization, as well as reduced the time-frame between loan approvals and their effective implementation.

From the perspective of further growth and poverty reduction outcomes, AfDB experts assessed GPRSSP-II as excellent. Following the loan approval, Mr. Isaac Lobe Ndoumbe, director of the AfDB's governance, economic and financial management department, noted that the development reform process in Mali is essentially government-owned.

He emphasized that the current programme will lead to optimum mobilization of domestic resources, more transparency in public finance management, including at the local authority level. Mr. Lobe Ndoumbe also indicated that the programme will help raise tax revenue. He further revealed that the Bank's active portfolio in Mali comprises 19 operations, amounting to more than U.S.$ 500.million.