The African Development Bank Group and the Government of Liberia have signed a US $4.6-million grant agreement to support the country's Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Program.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday in Monrovia by the Bank's Resident Representative, Margaret Hilda Kilo, and Finance Minister Amara Konneh, in the presence of AfDB President Donald Kaberuka, who led a Bank delegation on a two-day working visit.

According to Mrs. Kilo, the Fragile States Facility grant is designed to strengthen government public financial management capacity, improve the capacity of accountability and integrity of institutions, increase the quality and effectiveness of internal and external audit, and expand revenue mobilization and administration capacity.

It will strengthen the capacity of key institutions involved in public finance management including the Ministry of Finance, the General Auditing Commission, ministries and agencies, state-owned enterprises, the Legislature/Legislative Budget Office and non-state actors.

Describing the operation as "ground-breaking" for Liberia and the Bank, Mrs. Kilo explained that Bank participation in the innovative institutional arrangement demonstrates its commitment to development effectiveness and to the principles of effective engagement in fragile states. "The Bank is also expressing its trust in Liberia's commitment to improve public financial management and supporting country-led PFM reforms and capacity-building programs," she said.

The program is supported by the AfDB and three other donors - the World Bank, USAID, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) - to the tune of US $28.55 million.

The main activities focus on building stronger public financial management (PFM) systems, capacity building and knowledge transfer through:

technical assistance to train staff in their respective areas with key counterpart staff identified;

on-the-job training;

local, regional and limited overseas training focused in a few key areas essential for the development of high-level technical qualifications and strong analytical skills;

provision of essential equipment and facilities;

professional development programs in the PFM training school.

It is aligned with the government's 2011-2014 public financial management reform strategy and action plan, which provides a comprehensive framework on which to base further development assistance to ensure that the interventions are coordinated and aligned with its priorities.