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© 2006 International Monetary Fund

January 2006

IMF Country Report No. 06/12

The Gambia: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper—Annual Progress Report

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are prepared by member countries in broad consultation with stakeholders and development partners, including the staffs of the World Bank and the IMF. Updated every three years with annual progress reports, they describe the country’s macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. This country document for The Gambia, dated October 2004, is being made available on the IMF website by agreement with the member country as a service to users of the IMF website.

To assist the IMF in evaluating the publication policy, reader comments are invited and may be sent by e-mail to publicationpolicy@imf.org.

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REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA:

PRSP/SPA II

ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT

July 2002- December 2003

Department of State for Finance and Economic Affairs (DOSFEA)

October 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Foreword

• Acronyms and Abbreviations

• Chapter 1. Introduction

  • 1.1 Overview

  • 1.2 PRSP/SPA II Implementation framework

  • 1.3 Poverty Monitoring

  • 1.4 Update on the poverty situation

• Chapter 2. Macro-Economic Developments and Public Resource Management

  • 2.1 Overall macroeconomic performance

  • 2.2 Public Resource Management

  • 2.2.1 Governance of the Central Bank

  • 2.2.2 Country Financial Accountability Assessment (CFAA)

  • 2.2.3 Capacity building for economic management

  • 2.2.4 Privatization and Divestiture

  • 2.2.5 Civil Service Reform

  • 2.2.6 Preparation and Auditing of Government Accounts

    • i) Audit Reports

    • ii) Backlog of Un-audited Accounts, 1991-1999

    • iii) Government Support

  • 2.3 Public Spending

  • 2.3.1 Poverty focus of public expenditure

• Chapter 3. Improving the Productive Capacity and Social Protection of the Poor

  • 3.1 Agriculture and Natural Resources

  • 3.1.1 Agricultural development strategy

  • 3.1.2 Agricultural policy and progress in implementing PRSP policies

  • 3.1.3 Promoting private provision of inputs,

  • 3.1.4 Impact of the drought on Crop production and support for the 2003 planting season

  • 3.1.5 Development of irrigation schemes

  • 3.1.6 Agricultural Research

  • 3.2 Natural Resource Management

  • 3.3 Private sector development

  • 3.3.1 Employment

  • 3.3.2 Medium and Small Enterprises

  • 3.3.3 Tourism

  • 3.4 Social Welfare and Protection

  • 3.4.1 Social Welfare

  • 3.4.2 Foster care Scheme

  • 3.4.3 Social Fund for Poverty Reduction

• Chapter 4. Improving the Coverage of Basic Social Services

  • 4.1 Education

  • 4.1.1 Access to Basic Education

  • 4.1.2 Quality of Teaching and Learning

  • 4.1.3 Teaching and Learning Materials

  • 4.1.4 Non-Formal Education

  • 4.1.5 Skills Training/Appropriate Technology

  • 4.1.6 Education Outputs/outcomes

  • 4.2 Health

  • 4.2.1 Access to basic health care

  • 4.2.2 Quality of Basic Health Care

  • 4.3 Infrastructure

  • 4.3.1 Roads infrastructure expansion and upgrading

  • 4.3.2 Road Infrastructure

  • 4.3.3 Public Transport

  • 4.3.4 River Transport/Ferries

  • 4.4 Telecommunication

    • i) Increasing Access to Basic Telephone Services

    • ii) Access to Information and the new technologies

  • 4.5 Energy

• Chapter 5. Build Capacity of Local Communities and Civil Society Organizations to play a greater role in Poverty Reduction

  • 5.1 Decentralization and Reform of Local Governments

  • 5.1.1 Local Government System

  • 5.1.2 Current Challenges

  • 5.2 Support for LGA Capacity Building

  • 5.3 NGOs in Poverty Reduction

  • 5.4 Capacity Building

  • 5.5 Education

  • 5.6 Agriculture

  • 5.7 Smallholder irrigation for livelihood enhancement (SMILE)

  • 5.8 Outputs

  • 5.9 Health: Stepping Stones

• Chapter 6. Mainstreaming Poverty Related Issues

  • 6.1 Population

  • 6.2 HIV/AIDS

  • 6.3 Gender

  • 6.4 Capacity Building

  • 6.5 Communication and Outreach Services

  • 6.6 Direct Interventions

  • 6.7 Nutrition

    • i) Micronutrient Control Program

    • ii) Salt Iodisation Program

    • iii) Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA)

    • iv) Infant and Young Child Nutrition

    • v) BFCI

• Chapter 7 Lessons Learnt and the way Forward

  • 7.1 Progress on SPA II Action Plan

  • 7.2 Major constraints/challenges

  • 7.3 Conclusions

    • a) Reducing debt service through fiscal discipline should be a top priority

    • b) PRSP priorities need to be further reflected in the national budget

    • c) Major imbalances in the structure of the budget needs to be adjusted

    • d) Phase out cash budgeting but in line with improvement in budget management

    • e) The MTEF and IFMIS work plans should be revised

    • f) Recurrent expenditures for the social sectors should be increased, particularly for Education

    • g) Poverty targets no longer feasible

• Appendices

• Appendix 1: GDP by kind of Economic Activity at Current Price form 1996 - 2003

• Appendix 2: Consumer price index (Base: 1974 = 100) for low income Population in Banjul and Kombo St. Mary by Groups ABD Subgroups

FOREWARD

This is the first progress report covering the first eighteen months of SPA II Implementation; July 2002 to December 2003. The report brings together the progress achieved so far in operationalzing SPA II concentrating on key programmatic areas, reform measures called for by the Strategy and resource mobilization efforts. The report further identifies strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities that lie ahead, as well as required urgent action in our journey to reach completion point under the enhanced HIPC initiative target.

I am delighted to note that the report has brought to the fore, the daunting task of transforming policy ideas into action, particularly during a period when the country is faced with limited financial and human resources. Despite the constraints however, some progress was registered within the short time since we took off implementation during the latter part of 2002.

It is intended that this report acts as a trigger and early warning on the road to completion of the first year of SPA II Implementation. The report will help both government and partners to become responsive and focused on our promises and anticipated actions as evident in the SPA II priority areas. The information in this report will further contribute to focusing our budgetary allocations and policies on key issues in fighting poverty and making SPA II a reality.

Moussa Gibril Bala-Gaye

Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs

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