"The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved on Friday $540 million in International Development Association (IDA) funding for the Protection of Basic Services (PBS) Program Phase II Project for Ethiopia. In a statement the World Bank said PBS has complemented government resources to improve the decentralized delivery of basic services in five sectors; education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation, and rural roads since 2006. In the second three-year phase, the Ethiopian government is expected to allocate approximately $700 million, while 12 donor partners, including the IDA, plan to provide an additional $400 million a year...." [BBC Monitoring/ Ethiopian News Agency (5/15)/Factiva]
AFP adds that "...Ethiopia should ease its regulations on non-governmental groups, said the World Bank Sunday, as it extended [funding to] the Horn of Africa nation. 'There is a need to ensure that CSOs (civil society organizations) have adequate space and voice to follow through with transparency and accountability initiatives,' the Bank said. Ethiopia adopted an aid law early this year, under which any local group drawing more than 10 percent of its funding from abroad would be classified as foreign and subjected to tight government control...." [Agence France Presse (5/17)/Factiva]
In related news, Reuters reports that "...Ethiopia is negotiating a $400 million loan with China to fund power and road projects in the Horn of Africa nation, Walta Information Center reported on Friday. Investors say poor transport networks and lack of reliable power are a major hindrance for growth on the continent, which uses a third less energy per capita than the global average.... Ethiopia currently rations power...." [Reuters (5/15)/Factiva]
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