EU funds to mitigate impact of crisis on 19 ACP states

Nineteen African, Caribbean, Pacific countries have been allocated grants totalling €264M under the EU’s two-year Vulnerability Flex mechanism (called V FLEX) to help them mitigate the social impact of the economic downturn. It is the second allocation under the €500M (2009-2010) mechanism shaped to assist the most vulnerable ACP states.

In 2009, allocations under the same mechanism to 15 ACPs came to €236M.The following states will benefit from 2010 allocations: Antigua & Barbuda (€13M), Burundi (€15M), Burkina Faso (€14M), Cape Verde (€9M), Central African Republic (€13M), Democratic Republic of Congo (€50M), Grenada (€3.5M), Guinea Bissau (€8.5M), Haiti (€26M), Lesotho (€21M), Liberia (€12.5M), Malawi (€19M), Samoa (€5.5 M), Sierra Leone (€10M), Togo (€12M), Tonga (€5.5M), Tuvalu (€1.5M) and Zimbabwe (€16M). “Developing countries continue to face important difficulties, including funding gaps in their government’s budgets, as a direct consequence of the global financial crisis,” said Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development. EU officials explain that the allocations are calculated on the basis of fiscal losses and other vulnerability indications.