(a) Low and structurally unadapted economic growth

79. Analyses show that, in order to significantly reduce the rate of poverty, an economic growth rate of at least 7% is required on a long term. However, Niger’s economic growth rate has, for a long time, been below the population growth rate (3.3%), and only slightly exceeded it over the past five years (3.9% on average annually, compared to the initial target of 4%) and within a context of low inflation (1.8% on average) (see Table 5).

Table 5:

Key Macro-economic Indicators 2002/2006

Sources: INS/MEF; DGEP/MEF

Table 5:

Key Macro-economic Indicators 2002/2006

Key Indicators	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	Average Period
Nominal per capita GDP (in CFAF million)	130.8	129.6	125.2	139	142.8	133.3
Real GDP growth rate (in %)	5.2	3.2	-0.8	7.2	4.8	3.9
Real per capital GDP growth rate	1.9	-0.1	-4.1	3.9	1.5	0.6
Proportion of informal sector in nominal GDP (in %)	72.2	72.5	70.4	70.5	70.8	71.3
Investment rate (in %)	16.1	16.3	14.6	23.1	21.8	18.4
Domestic savings rate (in %)	8.2	7.6	3.7	10.2	10.4	8.0
Final Consumption (variation in %)	6.1	4.2	3.1	-0.2	3.7	3.4
Rate of inflation (in %)	2.6	-1.6	0.2	7.8	0.1	1.8
Public debt (NPV as % of exports)	221.7	217.6	428	134.6	46	209.6

Sources: INS/MEF; DGEP/MEF

View Table

Table 5:

Key Macro-economic Indicators 2002/2006

Key Indicators	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	Average Period
Nominal per capita GDP (in CFAF million)	130.8	129.6	125.2	139	142.8	133.3
Real GDP growth rate (in %)	5.2	3.2	-0.8	7.2	4.8	3.9
Real per capital GDP growth rate	1.9	-0.1	-4.1	3.9	1.5	0.6
Proportion of informal sector in nominal GDP (in %)	72.2	72.5	70.4	70.5	70.8	71.3
Investment rate (in %)	16.1	16.3	14.6	23.1	21.8	18.4
Domestic savings rate (in %)	8.2	7.6	3.7	10.2	10.4	8.0
Final Consumption (variation in %)	6.1	4.2	3.1	-0.2	3.7	3.4
Rate of inflation (in %)	2.6	-1.6	0.2	7.8	0.1	1.8
Public debt (NPV as % of exports)	221.7	217.6	428	134.6	46	209.6

Sources: INS/MEF; DGEP/MEF

80. Between 1993 and 2006, the real per capita GDP virtually remained stagnant. Although a significant improvement was noted over the 2002-2006 period, in reality it only made up for the enormous degradation recorded over the previous period, thereby accounting for the slight reduction of the poverty rate over the period.

81. The country’s indebtedness ratio fell from 76.6% of GDP in 2002 to 62.3% of GDP in 2005 as a result of the various debt reliefs obtained during the period. Accordingly, on the eve of the HIPC Initiative, the public debt amounted to CFAF 1321.3 billion, comprising CFAF 912.40 billion as external debt and CFAF 295.55 billion as domestic debt. The external debt stock as at 31 December 2005 was estimated at CFAF 965.95 billion, while the debt service stood at CFAF 39.39 billion. An analysis of debt sustainability conducted in December 2006 shows that Niger’s debt indicators improved significantly following the country’s eligibility for the MDRI. Consequently, the debt NPV/exports ratio fell from 134.6% in 2005 to 46% in 2006. Niger’s debt is very sensitive to external shocks and poor performance of its economy.

82. At the end of 2006, the outstanding domestic debt stood at CFAF 162.8 billion, representing CFAF 132.8 billion reduction in comparison to the outstanding debt of CFAF 295.6 billion at the end of 1999. This absorption of CFAF 132.8 billion of domestic arrears benefited mainly commercial creditors (43.2%), households (40%) and the financial sector (16.8%).

83. At the macro-economic level, the signing of an economic and financial programme 2000-2003 supported by the IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) and the support of several other multilateral and bilateral partners marked Niger’s initiation of a vast programme of economic and structural reforms.

84. The satisfactory implementation of this programme, particularly in the management of public finance, helped the country to make progress in the PRS implementation, reach the completion point of the HIPC Initiative in April 2004, benefit from external debt reliefs and conclude a new programme with the IMF for the 2005-2007 period. The various reviews of the programmes highlighted a relative improvement of the macro-economic performance in comparison to the previous decade.

85. Despite these reforms, Niger’s economy remains characterized by:

• - the primary sector’s contribution to GDP increased from 39.1% of GDP over the 1995-2001 period to 42.8% over the 2002-2006 period;

• - the secondary sector’s contribution has declined steadily despite increased activity in the mining sector; it fell from 13.7% to 13.2% over the 2002-2006 period;

• - the tertiary sector’s contribution to GDP, despite its decline, is still predominant; it was 44% of GDP over the period as against 47.2% of GDP over the 1995-2001 period;

• - the informal sector’s contribution to GDP remains very high (above 70%), and its evolution shows resistance of these activities to integrate into a modern framework in the short term.

85. The predominance of the primary sector in the economy (agriculture, in particular) and its dependence on climatic factors leads to volatile and erratic economic growth, thereby affecting its sustainability and making the Poverty Reduction Policy rather fragile. Abundant rainfall can trigger double digit growth rates (as in 1998), while rainfall shortages generally coincide with economic recession (as in 2004).

86. Generally, evaluations of the rural development policies show poor performance of the sector due mainly to:

• - its management conditions (fragmentation and instability of the institutional framework, precariousness of supervisory services for producers, etc.) and poor organization of stakeholders;

• - limited access of the rural stakeholders to financial services to buy inputs and production equipment;

• - inadequate conservation and storage infrastructure and equipment;

• - poor circulation of information on markets;

• - inadequate weather information to warn of risks.

87. Crop production mainly comprises traditional food crops (millet, sorghum, rice, fonio, maize), most of which is for self-consumption, and other cash crops (groundnuts, sesame, sorrel, onion, sweet sedge, cotton, cowpea, souchet) (see Table 6).

Table 6:

Trend of Cash Crop Production between 2002 and 2005

Source MDA

Table 6:

Trend of Cash Crop Production between 2002 and 2005

Year	Production in tones
	Cow pea	Groundnuts	Sesame	Sedge	Souchet	Cotton	Onion
2 002	654 232	153 729	9 864	19 441	14 956	8 260	5 074
2 003	549 035	209 369	5 709	26 312	5 457	4 700	1 575
2 004	364 757	168 225	28 649	23 214	Not Available	27 108	291 780
2 005	586 078	139 035	42 199	8 095	10 177	28 000	Not Available

Source MDA

View Table

Table 6:

Trend of Cash Crop Production between 2002 and 2005

Year	Production in tones
	Cow pea	Groundnuts	Sesame	Sedge	Souchet	Cotton	Onion
2 002	654 232	153 729	9 864	19 441	14 956	8 260	5 074
2 003	549 035	209 369	5 709	26 312	5 457	4 700	1 575
2 004	364 757	168 225	28 649	23 214	Not Available	27 108	291 780
2 005	586 078	139 035	42 199	8 095	10 177	28 000	Not Available

Source MDA

88. The various crop yields are low and fluctuating mainly because of the following factors:

- low level of fertilization (5% of the areas in 2006 with half under rainfed crops);

- reduction of fallows and extension of farmlands by clearing marginal lands which promote water and wind erosion and undermine sustainability of exploitation natural resources;

- the low technological level of current production systems; farmers continue to use mainly traditional, manual and low intensification and mechanization farming methods;

- the low level of irrigation (only 1.4% of cultivated lands, whereas the FAO recommends an irrigation rate of 30%), despite efforts made over the past few years (irrigation schemes, out-of-season crop areas, private irrigation, runoff water drainage, small dams, etc.). Furthermore, the reduced flow of the Niger river has led to reduction of the land for irrigation;

- problems in the collective management of water and maintenance of structures on the irrigated areas;

- the small size of the parcels (between 0.25 and 0.5 hectare per family) which does not allow for economically profitable farming;

- the value of post-harvest losses is also high because of limited conservation capacity.

89. Cereal availability remains inadequate in comparison to requirements; it covered only 96.21% of the average requirements over the 2002-2005 period (see Table 7).

Table 7:

Cereal Coverage Rate between 2002 and 2005

Source: MDA

Table 7:

Cereal Coverage Rate between 2002 and 2005

Year	Availability (in tonnes)	Requirements (in tones)	Coverage Rate (in %)
2003	2 689 200	2 694 600	99.8
2004	2 781 538	2 786 401	99.8
2005	2 541 300	2 991 600	84.9
2006	3 167 700	3 146 600	100.7
Average over the period	2 794 935	2 904 800	96.21

Source: MDA

View Table

Table 7:

Cereal Coverage Rate between 2002 and 2005

Year	Availability (in tonnes)	Requirements (in tones)	Coverage Rate (in %)
2003	2 689 200	2 694 600	99.8
2004	2 781 538	2 786 401	99.8
2005	2 541 300	2 991 600	84.9
2006	3 167 700	3 146 600	100.7
Average over the period	2 794 935	2 904 800	96.21

Source: MDA

90. The inadequate coverage of cereal requirements in 2005 (about 85%) led to difficulties in meeting the food requirements of Niger, forcing the authorities to trigger large-scale actions through the National Food Crises Prevention and Management Mechanism, created to cope with such situations by coordinating all the operators:

• - At the national level, the food crises prevention and management mechanism, which has improved over the years, is trying to better target vulnerable areas and households, as well as fine tune its intervention procedures.

• - At the regional and sub-regional levels, the mechanism is managed by the Regional Committees (CR/PGCA) and Sub-regional Committees (CSR/PGCA), comprising all the stakeholders concerned and ensuring the strategic and operational management of the prevention and management of food and nutritional crises on the field.

91. The committees collect, summarize and validate information on the food situation. They produce timely analysis of the situation and propose measures to be taken. The food crises management and prevention mechanism is based mainly on the National Reserve Stock, made up of a national buffer stock of 80,000 tonnes and a Food Security Fund equivalent to 30,000 tonnes. This mechanism responded appropriately to the difficult situation in 2005.

92. The interventions and measures concerned mainly the free distribution of food to the most difficult cases, the establishment of Nutritional Recovery Centres (targeting in priority children), the sale of cereals and zootechnical inputs at moderate prices, the creation of cereal banks, the distribution of contingency and substitution seeds, labour-intensive works in cash for work or with food in food for work, the promotion of irrigated farming, the replenishment of livestock population and support for income-generating activities.

93. The contribution of the livestock sub-sector to GDP averaged 13.9% between 2002 and 2006. The national livestock population comprises cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses and poultry. This production potential is high in terms of quantity and quality, especially as concerns small ruminants (see Table 8).

Table 8:

Breakdown of Livestock Population In Head and UBT

Source: RGAC/2004_2005

Table 8:

Breakdown of Livestock Population In Head and UBT

Species	Number	UBT
Cattle	7 336 088	5 868 870
Sheep	9 192 729	1 378 909
Goats	11 238 269	1 685 740
Donkeys	1 477 075	738 538
Horses	230 176	230 176
Camels	1 565 420	1 565 420
Total	31 039 757	11 467 654

Source: RGAC/2004_2005

View Table

Table 8:

Breakdown of Livestock Population In Head and UBT

Species	Number	UBT
Cattle	7 336 088	5 868 870
Sheep	9 192 729	1 378 909
Goats	11 238 269	1 685 740
Donkeys	1 477 075	738 538
Horses	230 176	230 176
Camels	1 565 420	1 565 420
Total	31 039 757	11 467 654

Source: RGAC/2004_2005

94. Livestock feeding and availability of water pose serious problems because of the type of extensive stockbreeding, that is quite vulnerable to climatic shocks and local pasturelands, low linkage and inadequate water points, drainage difficulties in areas where the water catchment is very deep (more than 60 m), declining water-table and low maintenance of structures. Animal health also remains a major cause for concern despite initiation of privatization of the veterinary profession.

95. Meat production has increased steadily (55% between 2002 and 2005) (see Table 9). Nevertheless, the livestock exploitation rate remains relatively low, based on records of authorized slaughter and exports. The low capacity of conservation facilities and modern slaughterhouses has contributed to this situation. Almost all the meat produced in Niger is intended for local consumption; only very little quantities are exported, particularly to Nigeria and Côte d’lvoire.

Table 9:

Slaughter Trend in Equivalent Life Weight from 2002 to 2005

Source: MRA

Table 9:

Slaughter Trend in Equivalent Life Weight from 2002 to 2005

	2002	2003	2004	2005
Authorized slaughter in kg	27 919 808	26 921 513	30 107 369	36 924 022
Production of offals in kg	7 396 949	7 138 979	7 997 015	9 631 897
Total	35 318 759	34 062 495	38 106 388	46 557 924
Unauthorized slaughter	24 721 730	34060 492	38 104 384	46 555 919
Total slaughter	60 040 489	68 122 987	76 210 772	93 113 844
Annual Total in tones	60 040	68 123	76 211	93 114
Monthly average in tones	5 003	5 677	6 351	7 759
Average price per kg of meat (in CFAF)	1 200	1 200	1 200	1 200
Annual meat production value in CFAF billion	72.05	81.75	91.45	111.74
Monthly value in CFAF billion	6.00	6.81	7.62	9.31

Source: MRA

View Table

Table 9:

Slaughter Trend in Equivalent Life Weight from 2002 to 2005

	2002	2003	2004	2005
Authorized slaughter in kg	27 919 808	26 921 513	30 107 369	36 924 022
Production of offals in kg	7 396 949	7 138 979	7 997 015	9 631 897
Total	35 318 759	34 062 495	38 106 388	46 557 924
Unauthorized slaughter	24 721 730	34060 492	38 104 384	46 555 919
Total slaughter	60 040 489	68 122 987	76 210 772	93 113 844
Annual Total in tones	60 040	68 123	76 211	93 114
Monthly average in tones	5 003	5 677	6 351	7 759
Average price per kg of meat (in CFAF)	1 200	1 200	1 200	1 200
Annual meat production value in CFAF billion	72.05	81.75	91.45	111.74
Monthly value in CFAF billion	6.00	6.81	7.62	9.31

Source: MRA

96. Milk and byproducts constitute the main food for at least 20% of the population, and important supplementary food for the remaining 80%. Average production per cow (during milking period) is estimated between 1 and 2 litres/day. National production is far below the increasing domestic demand and Niger has become an importer of dairy products: in 2003, powder milk imports stood at about CFAF 5 billion (according to FAO data). The Table below gives the production trend between 2002 and 2005.

Table 10:

Trend of Milk Production from 2000 to 2005

Source: MRA

Table 10:

Trend of Milk Production from 2000 to 2005

Species	2002	2003	2004	2005
Cattle	175 411 368	178 919 631	182 497 986	186 147 968
Sheep	84 353 040	86 883 636	89 490 144	91 279 944
Goats	188 847 855	193 569 054	198 408 273	202 376 433
Camels	66 844 206	67 846 896	68 864 621	70 241 886
Total	515 458 471	527 221 220	539 263 028	550 048 236
Average per capita	46	46	46	44

Source: MRA

View Table

Table 10:

Trend of Milk Production from 2000 to 2005

Species	2002	2003	2004	2005
Cattle	175 411 368	178 919 631	182 497 986	186 147 968
Sheep	84 353 040	86 883 636	89 490 144	91 279 944
Goats	188 847 855	193 569 054	198 408 273	202 376 433
Camels	66 844 206	67 846 896	68 864 621	70 241 886
Total	515 458 471	527 221 220	539 263 028	550 048 236
Average per capita	46	46	46	44

Source: MRA

97. Hides and skins are important sources of foreign currency for the country, because 95% of the production is exported, either raw, tanned or as handicraft products. The main export market is Nigeria which absorbs about 80% of exports. The national hides and skins supply is about 200,000 pieces of cattle skins, 900,000 sheep skins and 1,550,000 goat skins. The production capacity of the country’s semi-modern tanneries is about 912,000 skins per year. Despite enormous efforts, there are still problems of quality which reduce the export potential of the hides and skins sub-sector.

98. Forest production mainly consists of natural forests which accounted for about 5 million hectares in 2006 and which provide about 87% of the national energy requirements, as well as 97% of household energy consumption. They are also used to meet the additional food or survival needs of the riparian populations of the forests. The fauna and flora, which are exploited using traditional methods, are additional sources of monetary income for the rural populations and play a very important role in human food, particularly during periods of shortage, as additional food. They are also the main source of traditional pharmaceutical products. The Arabic gum sector is developing rapidly, with production estimated at between 2,000 and 4,000 tonnes per year, particularly in private and community plantations.

99. To control desertification and reverse the trend towards depletion of environmental resources, efforts have concentrated mainly on reforestation, land reclamation, development of natural forests and protected areas, as well as development of community forestry and agroforestry. Accordingly, 89,000 hectares have been placed under decentralized management for the production of energy wood, Arabic gum and other non-wood forest products, representing about 13% of the national forest potential and more than 30,000 hectare of reforested lands. However, pressure on resources and aggressions on the environment continue to be potential threats on the preservation of biodiversity.

100. Fisheries and aquaculture are carried out on many water bodies in the country (totaling more than 400,000 hectares): Niger River and its tributaries, Lake Chad, Komadougou Yobé, natural marshlands and artificial water catchment basins. National fish production is relatively low (50,058 tonnes of fish in 2005) and concerns only nearly ten thousand (10.000) fishermen.

101. The handicraft sector concerns about 23% of the population. It is developed in urban and rural areas, and is done mainly by women and people of the most vulnerable groups (youths, handicapped persons) in almost all the trades. It supports rural development, particularly in the making and maintenance of equipment, supply of spare parts and processing at competitive costs. The development of the sector encounters several obstacles:

• - lack of a general micro and small enterprise promotion strategy;

• - low capacities o the operators (technical and management skills);

• - lack of production equipment;

• - inappropriate financing structures;

• - low level of innovation;

• - lack of quality standards.

102. The modern private sector comprises small-scale enterprises, most of which are engaged in service activities and use relatively simple technology. Between 2000 and 2004, 79% of private institutions employ less than 15 persons, and barely 2% of the enterprises have staff of more than 100 employees.

103. The manufacturing industry contributed 8.57% of GDP over the 2002-2005 period. The number of enterprises operating in the sub-sector stands at 69, which are private small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly concentrated in Niamey (80% of the enterprises). The employment situation in the sector is stagnant (around 1,300 workers in 2005) despite the creation of new industrial plants in the past few years.

104. The constraints and obstacles to the development of the manufacturing industrial sector are many; the most significant are:

• - socio-cultural practices: The “trader” spirit (buy – sell) is predominant among Niger businessmen who have enough financial opportunities required for productive investments, particularly industrial investments;

• - poor management of enterprises: most industrial plants are poorly managed, in terms of inputs supply, financial management and human resource management. There is also poor marketing to conquer the market;

• - lack of integration of plants which work isolated;

• - unfair competition due to fraud;

• - high costs of technical production factors (electric power, water, telecommunications, transport and logistics);

• - low level of production tool, due to obsolete and outdated technology;

• - most production plants very often operate below their capacities, thereby generating committed costs which affect the competitiveness of the products;

• - the industrial zone in Niamey, the largest in the country, suffers from serious degradation of spaces and access roads;

• - lack of specialized technical centres to support the sector in the training of senior staff and in assistance and high-level technical expertise.

105. The mining sector exploits important mineral substances (uranium, gold, phosphate, cassiterite, gypsum, natron, etc.) on a large or small scale. Furthermore, there are huge deposits of iron, phosphate and salt. Niger adhered to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in March 2005. Following relative stability between 2001 and 2002, uranium exports have been increasing sharply since 2004, because of price resurgence on the international market.

106. The constraints and obstacles to development of the mining potential are of several types, in particular:

- landlocked position of the country and far distance from the sea;

- limited integration of the mining sector into the rest of the national economy;

- inadequate geological coverage of the national territory (a large part of he national territory is not yet covered by appropriate scale mapping);

- lack of professionalism and resources of the small-scale mine developers;

- limited diversification of investors.

107. The tourism sector benefits from a rich and varied potential (the Aïr, the Ténéré, the Kawar, the river valley, the W natural park, the centre of the country and all the country’s cultural diversity). A National Tourism Promotion Centre (CNPT) was created in 1999 to promote the sector, provide supervisory services, sensitization, information and professionalization of tourism and hotel trade stakeholders.

108. Despite the enormous tourism assets in Niger, its development is hampered by several constraints, including:

- the lack of a national tourism development policy;

- the landlocked position of the country and its wide expanse, which do not facilitate the movement of tourists;

- the arid climate and short tourism season (the tourism season runs only from October to March, or six months);

- the limited air transport services and very high costs to Niger;

- low professionalism of stakeholders and limited quality of the tourism product;

- limited use of modern means of payment;

- lack of adequate financing for the sector.

(b) Uncompetitive business environment

109. According to the survey on the investment climate in Niger conducted by the World Bank from November 2005 to February 2006, the business environment is, on the whole, not favourable to the private sector. The key negative points are related to corruption perceived as high, inconsistency of regulations, the slowness, complexity and lack of transparency of administrative and legal procedures, problems of access and cost of loans, and serious infrastructure problems (particularly as concerns electricity).

110. In addition, the productivity of manufacturing firms is very low, even when compared to other WAEMU countries, mainly because of the lack of initial and/or continuous training of manpower, slow adoption of new technologies and poor allocation of resources and factors of production. All this accounts for the low foreign direct investments in the country, even though such investments have been increasing significantly (CFAF 12.5 billion in 2006 as against CFAF 2.87 billion in 2002).

111. Furthermore, in the Finance Law for 2007, three (3) key measures were taken in December 2006; they are: (i) the abolition of advance payment of business tax when starting a business, (ii) deduction of 5 points from the registration rate of some deeds of conveyance, and (iii) streamlining of the procedure for issuing tax status attestations.

(c) Poor financing of the economy

112. The financial and banking system is expanding (twelve banks and financial institutions in 2006). Some banks do not comply with all the WAEMU prudential rules. Loans granted by banks in Niger remain relatively low in comparison to other WAEMU countries. They are mainly short-term (74.32%) and favour big enterprises to the detriment of small enterprises. Similarly, the interest rate and intermediation margins in Niger are the highest in WAEMU, standing at 17% and 9.1% respectively in 2006.

Table 11:

Trend of Credit Ratios to the Economy In Niger and soem WAEMU Countries (In % of GDP

Source: BCEAO

Table 11:

Trend of Credit Ratios to the Economy In Niger and soem WAEMU Countries (In % of GDP

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
WAEMU	14.8	14.6	14.8	15.2	15.6	16.2	14.8
Burkina Faso	12	12.1	13.3	13.6	14.1	15.9	13.4
Mali	15	15.5	18.5	19.7	19.6	17.8	17.6
Benin	11.5	10.5	11.3	14.2	14.6	16.3	13.7
Niger	5.5	4.8	5.1	5.4	6.6	6.9	6.3

Source: BCEAO

View Table

Table 11:

Trend of Credit Ratios to the Economy In Niger and soem WAEMU Countries (In % of GDP

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
WAEMU	14.8	14.6	14.8	15.2	15.6	16.2	14.8
Burkina Faso	12	12.1	13.3	13.6	14.1	15.9	13.4
Mali	15	15.5	18.5	19.7	19.6	17.8	17.6
Benin	11.5	10.5	11.3	14.2	14.6	16.3	13.7
Niger	5.5	4.8	5.1	5.4	6.6	6.9	6.3

Source: BCEAO

113. Several reforms have been initiated in the financial sector by the Government. They concern the following areas:

(i) strengthening of the legal and regulatory environment of the financial system in order to improve the legal and regulatory environment perceived as an obstacle to the promotion of the financial sector and private sector in general. In addition, reforms in this area should foster better access to financing, by facilitating the issue and performance of guarantees by financial institutions and reducing their costs;

(ii) restructuring of banking aimed at developing financial intermediation, particularly cleaning up of the banking sector and increase in financing for housing and local authorities;

(iii) development of local financial intermediation which is a key factor for the development of rural and periurban areas. Indeed, through the development of micro-finance and postal financial services, local financial intermediation would contribute significantly to poverty reduction by mobilizing small savings, developing payment systems and providing small financing adapted to marketing and production in rural areas.

114. The following results were obtained:

a. the conduct of three (3) studies on aspects relating to: (i) the process of issuing and performance of guarantees; (ii) round table on the judicial system and financial institutions; and (iii) reform of the trade and real estate credit register.

b. pursuance of actions towards privatization of “Crédit du Niger” (CDN);

c. restructuring of the CPCT, which depends on the ongoing decentralization process in Niger and the existence of local authorities that can represent solvent demand for financial services, has not been carried out.

115. Furthermore, the Government has ratified the uniform law on combating money laundering in WAEMU countries; to that end, a financial information unit, known as the National Financial Information Processing Unit (CENTIF) has been set up.

116. Similarly, capacity building actions have been carried out. They seek to develop the financial sector by: (i) improving the institutional framework of the financial sector, building administrative, financial and technical capacities of supervisory and control ministerial structures; and (ii) capacity building for banks and insurance companies in order to improve their operational, managerial and prudential capacity.

117. Accordingly, officials of the sector received training which helped t improve the performance of employees, particularly the degree of satisfaction of service users.

118. The decentralized financial system: The preliminary results of the exhaustive inventory of 162 decentralized financial services (SFD) in Niger present a rather negative image of the micro-finance sector. Despite the steady and high increase in the loans they grant and deposits they collect, the financial situation of SFDs remains fragile and the quality of their portfolio has deteriorated. Similarly, the micro-finance sector in Niger is one of the least developed in the WAEMU space. The most important SFDs have been trusteeship or in liquidation since 2001, and most of them suffer from low institutional capacity, as well as inadequate management tools and strategic development vision. Many SFDs have negative equity capital and are bound to stop their activities if there is no external assistance and important recovery measures are not taken. None of the prudential and management ratios stipulated by the PARMEC law is respected by all the SFDs. Furthermore, despite the numerous violations of prudential standards, the application of sanctions remains inadequate.

119. Micro-finance in Niger also suffers from: (i) lack of technical capacities for the management of the sector, (ii) inadequate supervision by the supervisory authority, (iii) lack of synergy between the various stakeholders, and (iv) the charging of very high interest rates. Poor governance is a major cause for concern for the development of the sector. Such governance is reflected by: (i) the lack or non-application of internal control and risk management procedures which leads to several financial misappropriations.

120. SFDs in Niger depend on donors, especially for providing lines of credit, rather than laying emphasis on internal resource mobilization, such as savings. Accordingly, nearly 50% of the resources for lending come from subsidies, and equity capital is made up mainly of investment subsidies and other endowment funds.

121. However, micro-finance development in Niger offers the only way for many people, especially in rural areas, to have access to formal financial services. Indeed, the number of SFD customers, which stood at 112,114 as at 31 December 2005, is higher than that of the banking sector which has only 78,456 accounts. However, the outstanding loans of CFAF 8.5 billion and savings of CFAF 5.4 billion represent only 6.01% and 3.03% respectively of the entire financial sector.

122. As part of reforms of the sector, the following activities have been initiated by the Government:

- cleaning up of the micro-finance sector by adopting a decree establishing the Micro-finance Regulation and Surveillance Agency (ARSM) so as to strengthen: (i) the control and supervision capacities of the supervisory authority through training and supply of equipment to the Agency, and (ii) those of micro-finance institutions by conducting financial and technical audits;

- restructuring of the Post Office by: (i) establishing the NIGER-POSTE corporation, responsible for promoting the universal postal service and creating FINA-POSTE, as a subsidiary bank of NIGER-POSTE, enjoying management autonomy, as a result of the merger of the Caisse Nationale d’Epargne (CNE) and CCPs, to offer local financial services; and (ii) building the capacities of Management of NIGER-POSTE and FINA-POSTE through advisory, training and material services.

123. Niger has a common plan for cleaning up and stabilizing the SFDs, which is an adequate framework for the support required for viable development of micro-finance. It focuses on the following actions:

• - support for regulations and SFD supervision;

• - support for SFD in building their institutional capacities;

• - support for apex and professional organizations.

124. Despite the constraints listed above, there are several development opportunities for the sector, in particular:

• - the organization of operators in an association (ANIP-MF) since 2000;

• - the refinancing of MFIs (more than CFAF 500 million in 2005) by the Regional Solidarity Bank (BRS);

• - support for the Rural Financial Service Development Programme (PDSFR) and the technical Assistance Project for Financial Sector Development (PDSF);

• - capacity building for the institutional stakeholders, as well as those of MFIs;

• - reorganization of the institutional and legal framework;

• - operationalization of the Micro-Finance Regulation and Surveillance Agency (ARSM);

• - the “micro-crédit” component of the Special Programme of the President of the Republic and several other development projects;

• - the imminent creation of a bank for loans to women, known as “SARAOUNIA” and an agricultural credit bank.

125. The financial market: Capital markets are the “engine” of the economy, in the sense that they transform savings into investments and that these investments foster economic growth and create jobs. The WAEMU financial market was established to enable the States, local authorities and public and private companies to get out of the conventional financial methods by mobilizing public savings to revitalize the West African private sector. It facilitates mobilization, through bond loan, of the huge financial resources required for investments. In this way, it has enabled several WAEMU countries to finance their large projects, clean up their finance and stabilize the macro-economic balances. This sub-sector should enable economic operators to resort to thee financial market to finance their activities. However, the participation of Niger operators is very low.

126. Indeed, the local financial market faces the following constraints:

- inadequate stock market culture in all the countries;

- low supply of Niger securities (shares and bonds);

- very low demand for securities;

- unharmonized tax system;

- lack of regulatory texts to promote privatization by the stock market.

(d) A split private sector support mechanism with limited resources

127. A National Private Investors Council (CNIP) was established in 2004. Chaired by the Prime Minister, the Council seeks to foster better synergy between the private sector and the State. The implementation of a national private sector promotion policy has also led to the creation and/or strengthening of several support and supervisory structures; they are, in particular: the Chamber of Commerce, the Investments Promotion Centre (CPI), the Niger Exports Promotion Agency (ANIPEX), the National Management Development Centre (CNPG), and “Entreprendre au Niger” (EAN).

128. Furthermore, the Government has adopted several measures to support promoters in creating new economic units: (i) creation of a single window for corporate formalities; (ii) establishment of a refinancing fund in banks.

129. Some of these structures sometimes have very similar missions and very often lack appropriate means to perform their assigned tasks.

(e) An economy poorly integrated into the regional and world environment

130. Niger’s foreign trade suffers from a structural deficit as a result of the limited range of exports and enormous imports. The concentration of exports on a few products weakens the economy, making it dependent on price fluctuations on the world markets. The trade balance deficit is steadily increasing. It rose from 4.4% in 2002 to 7.4% of GDP in 2006. This deficit is due to imports which increased at an average of 12.3% and represented 20.4% of GDP, whereas exports increased only at an average of 8.3% and represented 14.2% of GDP over the period.

131. Niger exports a very limited variety of products, consisting mainly of mine products, agricultural products, livestock products and fishery products. Uranium is the leading export with 48% of the total. Uranium sales depend on the highly volatile world prices, which have since 2003 been very favourable for Niger. Livestock products, mainly life animals, come second with an average of 23.48% exports. Agricultural products come third (15.16%) and mainly consist of raw products (onion, cowpea, sweet sedge, dates, and groundnuts) and ginned cotton. Niger also conducts an average of 14% of its foreign trade with WAEMU countries, despite the entry into force of the CET since 2000. Furthermore, the economy’s opening rate is only about 20.1%, below the rate generally obtained in rapid growing countries, thereby reflecting the limited integration of the country into the international economy.

132. Niger’s exports still face several constraints:

- high dependence of the economic situation on the Nigerian market (nearly 16% of Niger’s exports go to Nigeria, and this figure is certainly under-estimated because of the largely informal trade between the two countries);

- low storage, packaging and conservation capacities;

- low added value of the products which are simply exported as raw products, without any processing;

- the inadequate quality of products;

- the lack of a real marketing strategy;

- the transport and transit costs are significantly high for some destinations, including Abidjan, Accra and Cotonou;

- the low negotiating power of the informal trade sector actors on foreign markets where they sell Niger’s products.

a) Education and Poverty

134. Education and vocational training have significant impacts on the different dimensions of poverty. They generally facilitate access to the labour market and enable people to benefit from economic opportunities.

135. Analyses performed in Niger show that a household headed by an educated person has higher probability of enjoying a higher standard of living than a household headed by an uneducated person. The same applies to households in which the head’s spouse is educated.

136. In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of Education For All (EFA), Niger has initiated reforms to improve the results of its education system by allocating about CFAF 55 billion per year to the sector, over the 2002-2006 period.

137. The implementation, as from 2003, of the Ten-Year Education Development Programme (PDDE), through its three (3) components (access, quality and institutional development) stems from this desire. The PDDE comprises two (2) blocks, the first of which covers basic education (preschool education, basic education 1 cycle, base 2 cycle; literacy schools and coranic schools) and the second block, which is being finalized, will focus on middle and higher education, as well as vocational and technical training.

• Basic Education

Preschool Education

138. Preschool education has a very positive impact on improving the knowledge acquired in the primary education cycle. However, compared to the huge requirements and impact of this cycle of education, the PDDE objectives are very modest (increase the gross preschool enrolment rate from 1% in 2002 to 5% in 2012). Despite the increase in the number of preschool institutions (average of 15.66% per year between 2003 and 2005 on the whole, and about 12% in rural areas) due to an increase in the number of children for such education, and the opening of community nursery schools in rural areas, the overall gross preschool enrolment rate is barely more than 1.4%.

Basic Education 1 (primary)

139. Despite the progress made in terms of access, PDDE performance in this area in inadequate compared to the set objectives and the huge financial resources mobilized (76% of the financial resources allocated to the sector over the period) and the means provided (construction of an average of 1,500 classes per year, recruitment of 2,500 teachers on contract).

140. The primary education gross enrolment rate increased from 41.7% in 2002 to 53.5% in 2006 (as against a target of 57%). This rate varies greatly from one region to another; it reached 96.9% in the Niamey Urban Community in 2006 as against 42.6% in Zinder. Despite a substantial reduction in the disparity between urban and rural areas (from 19 to 5 points gap between 2001 and 2006), the gross enrolment rate in rural areas (52%) did not achieve the set target (54%) in 2006.

141. Gender disparities have increased (from 15 points in 2001 to 19 points in 2006). The net enrolment rate stands at 45.5% for the entire country, and there are still disparities between the regions, as well as in terms of placed of residence¹ and gender².

View Full Size

Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) according to Gender

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2008, 149; 10.5089/9781451828795.002.A001

• Download Figure
• Download figure as PowerPoint slide

142. Concerning the quality, the completion rate increased from 25.4% in 2002 to 39.8% in 2006 (as against an initial target of 46%); after the repeater rate declined sharply between 2002 and 2005 (from 10% to 5%), it rose to 8.9% in 2006. The supply of school textbooks and teachers’ guides has been increased, while nearly all the teachers receive initial and continuous training in Teacher Training Colleges and Pedagogic Centres.

143. The poor performance which hampers achievement of PDDE objectives and progress towards MDG achievement are due to some factors, in particular: (i) inadequate services (infrastructures, staff, equipment); (ii) high population growth; (iii) low incomes; (iv) negative perception of school by the parents, particularly for girls; (v) education development strategy focused mainly on supply (this restrictive approach has shown its limit especially as the implicit assumption that there is high potential demand for enrolment has not been proven); (vi) the delay in the overhauling of curricula; (vii) the shortcomings of the initial and continuous training of teachers; (viii) inefficiency in the management of human resources, leading mainly to disproportionate pupil/teacher ratios and low impact of the massive recruitment contractual teachers on the enrolment ratio; (ix) centralized management of resources; (x) the low level of remuneration of contractual teachers; (xi) the high number of classes in straw huts; (xii) social unrest and demonstrations; (xiii) inadequate actions to stimulate social demand for education (school canteens, far distance to schools and lack of toilet facilities).

Informal Education

144. The “informal education” sub-programme of the PDDE aims at training youths aged 15 and above, particularly 15 to 24 years, who have not been educated in formal education structures. The education is offered through: (i) the activities of adult literacy and training centres, (ii) vocational training in community development training centres (CFDC) and other alternative formulas, and (iii) coranic schools. The general strategy adopted by the State is based on the “do-it-yourself” principle; this is a form of contractual relation between the State, the NGO/DA (as private operators) and the technical and financial partners.

- Adult literacy and education: The adult literacy rate is still very low (28.7% in 2005 as against 19.9% in 2000). This rate conceals wide disparities according to gender; for example, the literacy rate for men increased from 30.4% in 2000 to 42.9% in 2005 while that for women stood at 15.1% in 2005 as against 10.6% in 2000. Thus the women/men ratio remained stable (about 0.35). The low literacy rate is mainly due to the inadequate opportunities for learning (2,307 functional literacy centres in 2004 as against 1,299 centres in 2000).

- Vocational Training: There are currently eleven (11) Community Development Training Centres under experimentation. An evaluation of these pilot structures which aim at promoting access by drop-outs and uneducated persons to basic vocational training for better integration into the community fabric is underway.

- Education in renovated coranic schools: Coranic schools, which are firmly established in the country, admit many children, adolescents and adults seeking for knowledge, and enjoy some prestige among the population. However, these schools face many problems, in particular: (i) the lack of pedagogic supervision, (ii) poor living and working conditions of the instructors, (iii) precarious admission structures, and (iv) lack of appropriate programme. Furthermore, the absence of reliable statistics on coranic schools makes it difficult to evaluate them and include them in the calculation of the enrolment rate. To remedy the situation, the Ministry of National Education, through the PDDE, has embarked on supporting the coranic schools to enable them to contribute to providing basic education and combating poverty by curbing begging; to do this, a sampling of ten (10) coranic schools (one school per region and three for the Niamey Urban Community) have been selected to serve as pilot coranic schools. Today, these ten schools have 5,243 learners, of whom 2,948 are female (representing 56.3%). These schools provide renovated and harmonious teaching that give basic skills. Reorientation classes will be created for persons who leave these informal system schools to the formal system (médersa classique) and they will be initiated to productive practical activities.

• Post-basic education

Basic Education 2

145. In line with PDDE objective of developing opportunities for public basic education 2 (General education colleges, Secondary Education Complexes Cycle 1, French-Arabic Schools) to deal with inflow of pupils from basic education 1, the number of schools increased from 273 in 2002 to 460 in 2006. Most of these schools are built with make-shift materials and have no laboratories, libraries, infirmaries, fences and toilet facilities. Despite the increase in enrolment, there low development of private education with most schools concentrated in urban centres, particularly Niamey. The pupil enrolment in basic education 2 increased from 93,407 in 2002/2003 to 163,360 in 2005/2006.

146. This increase, generated by an admission rate into college of about 71.4%, has helped to increase the gross enrolment rate which rose from 12.97% in 2002 to 17.1% in 2006. This apparent good performance of access should not conceal the low output of the system and its disparities (the GER for girls in this cycle is only 12.5%). indeed, the BEPC success rate was only 11.97% in 2006, while the repeater rate stood at 26.8% in 3éme(Form 4). Furthermore, there is a high drop-out rate among girls.

Middle Education

147. The enrolment in the middle school cycle increased from 11,712 in 2002/2003 to 24,726 in 2005/2006. The pass rate from “classe de Troisième” (Form 4) to “classe de Seconde” (Form 5) was 67.6 % in 2006 as against 40.85% in 2001/2002. The gross enrolment rate is 4.1%; the rate for girls is 2.7% while that for boys is 5.9%. Drop-outs are more frequent among girls, particularly in rural areas. Although this cycle is essentially intended to lead to higher education after the “Baccalauréat”, barely 32.5% of enrolled students pass this examination.

Higher Education

148. Higher education is dominated by the public sector and concentrated in the capital (Niamey). The education is provided by Université Abdou Moumouni (UAM) which has 5 faculties and one higher teachers’ training school (ENS), as well as several higher education institutes and schools. The introduction of the Licence/Master/Doctorat (LMD) system which should facilitate the mobility of students sharing of training programmes between institutions has not yet taken place. Admission rate into the university is low. In 2004, this rate was 73 students for 100,000 inhabitants, which is far below the sub-Saharan average (230 students for 100,000 inhabitants). The failure rates are structurally high in UAM, particularly the first cycle. In 2002, the overall failure rate was 54.6%, with more than 64.47% in the first cycle.

149. These poor results in all the cycles have a negative impact on the internal efficiency of the system as a result of drop-outs and repeaters, and constitute wastage of resources allocated to the university.

150. Other factors also contribute to this poor internal success rate, in particular: (i) the unbalanced structure of the teaching corps; (ii) inappropriate programmes and teaching methods; (iii) inadequate teaching aids, in terms of quantity and quality; (iv) the inadequate teaching time as a result of university strikes; (v) inadequate lecture rooms and halls, amphitheatres and laboratory equipment in comparison to the growing number of students; (vi) the low number of textbooks in libraries; (vii) inadequate computer equipment and Internet connection.

151. Given this situation, the external output of higher education is low; students face difficulties in integrating into the formal sector of the labour market. University research is rather dormant in UAM and has contributed very little to national development, because of inadequate allocations and career incentives. Research is currently conducted mainly on an individual and isolated basis by lecturers isolated and mobilized by teaching activities.

Vocational and Technical Education and Training (EFPT)

152. Access to this type of education is limited. In 2005, it was provided in 11 public institutions (one technical high school, one vocational education high school, nine vocational and technical training centres) and 41 private institutions. Similarly, this type of education admitted 2.5% of secondary school students for a total enrolment of 4,608 students, with more than half (2.534) in private institutions. In the public sector, the number of students has fallen sharply, from 3,995 students in 1999 to 2,074 in 2004-05. Girls are under-represented in EFPT; their enrolment over the same period was estimated at 39% (with 72% in private institutions) as against 44% for boys.

153. Until recently, training in government schools was concentrated in Niamey. However, now, all the eight regions have at least one government vocational and technical training centre. These centres are under-equipped and lack their own facilities. Former government institutions are relatively well equipped with facilities, but they are still not operating at their highest capacity, because of inadequate resources and teachers. In private institutions, the facilities are rather overexploited and inappropriate for education. Training opportunities in the EFPT sub-sector is mainly geared towards the tertiary sector and based on job descriptions which rarely exist in rural areas. Indeed, vocational and technical training for rural workers does not exist on the market.

154. Lastly, it should be noted that all these types of education suffer from the following inadequacies: (i) inadequate training of teachers and educational support, (ii) teaching programmes not in line with the country’s development needs, and (iii) poor performance of the administration.

b) Health and Poverty

155. It is generally accepted that high morbidity rate is an obstacle to productivity and economic growth. The health status is also an indicator of the quality of life and human development. Consequently, improving the health status and life expectancy of the populations, particularly in rural areas, is a fundamental objective of government policy and MDG achievement.

156. In this light, a Health Development Plan (PDS) (2005-2010) has been put in place to contribute to reducing maternal and child mortality, by Improving the effectiveness and quality of health care. Sustained efforts by the State, private sector and technical and financial partners in implementing various programmes of the health policy have helped to improve the results, even though the indicators remain generally low.

Health and reproduction

Maternal health

157. In order to improve maternal health, Niger, in collaboration with its partners, embarked in 2006 on the implementation of a road map to control maternal and neonatal mortality. Indeed, pre-natal consultations and cesarean interventions are now free. Delivery rates in health facilities which are the main factors of maternity with the least risk, is still very low (17.2% in 2006); with very wide variations according to place of residence and region (8% of births in rural areas take place in health units as against 69.5% in urban areas). Furthermore, the percentage of births assisted by trained staff declined from 44% in 1998 to 33% in 2006. The proportion of women who put to birth with the assistance of medical staff increased from 15% to 18%. Despite the significant improvement in the rate of prenatal consultations (46% in 2006 as against 40% in 1998), maternal mortality remains high (648 per 100,000).

158. Achievement of the millennium development goal for maternal mortality may be undermined by the following constraints: (i) inadequate supply of quality health care and services, particularly in rural areas, (ii) low incomes of households, (iii) low level of education of women, (iv) problems of hygiene and sanitation, (v) high levels of malnutrition, (vi) socio-cultural practices, (vii) poor family planning, and (viii) high population growth.

Family Planning

159. The rate of use of modern contraception methods among married women increased slightly from 4.6% in 1998 to 5% in 2006. This limited performance is due mainly to low access by women to reproductive health services, limited accessibility to contraceptive products, pro-natalist behaviour (24.6% of married women want to have as many children as possible), inadequate information (16.2%), the weight of stereotypes, socio-cultural and religious considerations. Nevertheless, there is a large proportion of women whose needs in family planning are not satisfied (15.8% for married women). This situation leads to a higher a total fertility rate (average of 7.1 children per woman in 2006 as against 7.5 children in 1998).

Child health

160. The vaccination coverage of 12-23 months children has improved; the proportion of children completely vaccinated against the target diseases of the EPI increased from 18% to 29% between 1998 and 2006. However, it varies greatly according to the place of residence with 25% in rural areas, 41% for the town of Niamey and 54% for other urban centres. Depending on the type of antigen, it is estimated by EDSN-2006 for measles at 47% (as against 35% in 1998), for BCG at 64% (as against 47% in 1998), for DTC at 39% (as against 25% in 1998) and for Polio at 55% (as against 24% in 1998).

161. However, since EDSN 2006 measures only progress made before 2005, the country made significant efforts between 2005 and 2006 in vaccination, particularly against measles and poliomyelitis; a combination of routine EPI and mass campaigns helped to reduce cases of measles drastically, from 63,913 declared cases in 2004 (with more than 420 deaths) to 478 declared cases in 2006 (with 4 deaths throughout the country). Concerning poliomyelitis, Niger was declared in 2005 as having broken the transmission of the aboriginal virus and is no longer one of the endemic countries.

162. Despite the progress, the health conditions are still a cause for concern. According to the EDS-MICS 2006 results, although infant mortality is reducing sharply, it is still high because it still stood at 81 deaths per 1,000 children from 0 to 11 months old in 2006 (as against 123 per 1,000 in 1998). Similarly, child mortality still stands at 198 deaths per 1,000 children from 0 to 59 months (as against 274 per 1,000 in 1998).

163. Among the target diseases of the Integrated Management of Childhood Diseases (IMCD) strategy, malaria is the most lethal disease among 0-5 years old children with 52% deaths. Furthermore, the diarrheas that affect about 21% of children below 5 result in a significant proportion of the cases of deaths (10%); the deaths are due to dehydration, late consultations and poor quality of care.

164. Achievement of the target of “reduction by 2/3 of the mortality rate of children below five years” is hampered by the following factors: (i) inadequate health care and services, particularly in rural areas, (ii) low incomes of households (iii) low level of education of the mothers, (iv) hygiene and sanitation problems, (v) the high levels of malnutrition.

View Full Size

Evolution of Mortality rate for Children below five years

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2008, 149; 10.5089/9781451828795.002.A001

Source: ME/F/INS/EDS98-EDS-MICS2006

• Download Figure
• Download figure as PowerPoint slide

Disease control and essential interventions

Malaria

165. According to EDS-MICS 2006, malaria remains a major endemic disease (24% of the consultations) and the primary cause of morbidity and mortality for women and children. It is the cause of about 30% of deaths for the entire population, of whom 52% are children below 5 years. The lethality rate due to malaria is 27 per thousand. Malaria cases stand at about 850,000 per year; however, in view of the low medical coverage (42%), the incidence of malaria is greatly under-estimated. The use of mosquito nets treated with insecticides remains limited (13.3% for pregnant women, 14% for children below 5 years); 57% of household do not have them.

166. Indeed, (i) low medical coverage; (ii) inadequate sanitation infrastructures; (iii) the habits of the population; (iv) low incomes; and (v) limited access to treated mosquito nets are major constraints on the achievement of MDG 6.

Tuberculosis

167. As regards tuberculosis, the screening rate has improved significantly, from 33.4% in 2001 to 43.6% in 2005, representing nearly one-third increase. However, this rate is far short of the international target of 70% set by the WHO. The performance comes as a result of the improvement of laboratories, staff training, and regular supervision by district workers. The increase in the screening and treatment rate (60%) remains low when compared to the WHO standard of 85%. Constraints on the treatment of the disease concern: (i) the quality of services due to low geographic access; (ii) acceptability; (iii) availability of drugs; (iv) poor IEC; (v) high stigmatization of the disease.

HIV/AIDS Control

168. STI/HIV/AIDS control is organized under the national HIV/AIDS control strategic framework defined in 2002. Like most developing countries, AIDS control activities have mainly concerned prevention, care and advisory services with access to ARV, and socio-economic support to persons living with HIV (PLWHIV). The various activities have helped to maintain the AIDS prevalence rate at 0.7%.

169. However, AIDS control activities are not adequately integrated into the minimum activity package of health units due to vertical management of the AIDS control programme. Similarly, no data on routing surveillance have been collected. In the other sectors, the situation is moderate, because consideration of AIDS in the sectoral planning process is limited to implementation of specific sensitization or staff training activities, without making efforts to anticipate the possible impacts of the epidemic on the sectors and populations in interrelation with them.

Control of non-transmissible diseases

170. Despite the creation of a Non-transmissible Diseases Control Division in the Ministry of Health, the strategies that have been developed remain inadequate; the strategies concern the use of iodized salt, micro-nutriments, treatment of female cancer and metabolic diseases (diabetes, hypertension). These strategies seek to promote access to health care for the most underprivileged groups in the society.

Human and material resources

171. Obviously, much effort has been made over the past few years to improve the availability of human and material resources in health services. However, in view of the magnitude of needs in this sector, there are still many difficulties.

172. Indeed, the accelerated recruitment of doctors in 2005 more than doubled their numbers, increasing their relative number from 1 doctor for 72,781 inhabitants in 2002 to 1 doctor for 35,759 in 2005 (as against the WHO standard of 1 doctor for 10,000 inhabitants). The number of State-registered nurses increased slightly from one (1) nurse for 5,969 inhabitants in 2002 to one (1) nurse for 5,825 inhabitants in 2005, which is closer to the WHO standard of one (1) nurse for 5,000 inhabitants. As concerns midwives, their proportion increased from one (1) midwife for 29,685 women of child-bearing age in 2002 to one (1) midwife for 25,532 women of child-bearing age in 2005, as against the standard of one (1) midwife for 5,000 women of child-bearing age.

173. However, these data do not take into account the existing geographical disparities; most of the health professionals are in big urban centres, leaving rural areas unserved. Indeed, Niamey has 33% of the total staff, and nearly 37% of the senior staff for 6% of the population; the other seven regional chief towns (less than 25% of the population) absorb 65% of the senior staff.

174. Equipment has been increased in health units. However, the equipment is not always distributed in an equitable manner. The lack of national standards for equipment at each level, as well as the lack of an updated inventory of existing equipment at the central and regional levels, makes it difficult to ensure equitable distribution.

175. The availability of drugs in operational services remains low, leading to lack of trust on the part of the users. This inadequacy is mainly due to the inability of the purchasing centre to ensure regular supply of products.

Accessibility and use of health services

176. Geographic accessibility to health services has been improved significantly over the past five years. The physical health coverage of the integrated health centres (CSI) alone increased from 47.6% in 2001 to 65% in 2005. Furthermore, 2,111 health centres (CS) have been constructed, including 160 that are being transformed into CSI.

177. However, according to the QUIBB results, 39% of the populations take more than 30 minutes to go to health centres and 24.3% to clinics and hospitals. Furthermore, there are shortcomings due mainly to: (i) lack of the minimum activity package (PMA) in most of the health centres; (ii) slow services in some health centres due to inadequate staff; and (iii) lack of a national health map.

178. As regards use of health services, the results of the QUIBB survey 2005 show that 68.2% of sick or injured people turn to health services. The utilization rate of curative consultation (new cases per inhabitant and per year) has remained constant over the past few years; it has even decline, in view of the improved geographic accessibility estimated at 65%. This situation is due mainly to the inadequacy of services offered by the health centres and new CSIs and the relatively high cost of consultation (29.4% of patients give this reason, particularly in urban areas).

179. Furthermore, of all the persons consulted, only 6.2% said they were satisfied with the services received| The inadequate quality of health care is due to inadequacy of human resources in terms of numbers and their distribution according to the administrative levels and health structures, as well as between urban areas, rural areas and the regions. The low quality is also due to: (i) inadequate or very old equipment; (ii) unavailability of drugs; (iii) inadequate consumables in the health centres; (iv) inadequate funds; (v) non-implementation of the minimum activity package (PMA) by all the districts; (vi) limited use of the standard protocol; and (vii) inadequate supervision of staff.

180. Lastly, the lack of a national training plan and coordination between the national health programmes and initial training of Public health Schools and the University is a major cause of the problems of quality in clinic services.

Health information system

181. Statistics on the health sector are produced by the National Health Information System (SNIS). The SNIS was established in 1994 to provide policy makers, health officials and partners with reliable quality information for decision-making. Despite the assets of the SNIS, it has, for the past few years, encountered problems in carrying out its mission in the collection, processing, archiving and dissemination of data. Indeed, the following difficulties could be mentioned: (i) too much mobility of staff and low capacities; (ii) inadequate material resources; (iii) high dependence on external resources; (iv) failure to integrate some public data (vertical programmes, hospitals, etc.); (v) inadequate facilities for collection of information; and (vi) delays in the transmission of data from field structures.

(c) Nutrition and poverty

182. The nutrition situation in Niger is marked by the persistence, for the past ten years, of a state of emergency, with acute prevalence of malnutrition higher than the intervention threshold of 10% and the emergency threshold of 15% for some years. Malnutrition is systemic by nature; it is frequent in some regions of the country with high rates for the chronic and severe forms. It is mainly the result of social behaviour, poverty and recurrence of food crises. It affects a high proportion of children. Notwithstanding the existence of a National Nutrition Enhancement Plan and a Nutrition Management Protocol, malnutrition causes 59.3% in child mortality.

183. The proportion of underweight children below 3 years still stood at 43% in 2006 (as against 50% in 1998), that of children with stunted growth (chronic malnutrition index) increased from 41% in 1998 to 45% in 2006, while tendency toward emaciation (conjunctural malnutrition index) is on the decline (13% in 2006 as against 21% in 1998). These rates are higher for boys than for girls, and higher in rural than urban areas. The prevalence of chronic undernutrition is above 40% in six of the eight regions of the country, and is above 59% in Maradi and Zinder regions. The highest infant mortality rates are recorded in regions where the infant undernutrition rates are also highest.

184. The proportion of children below 5 years with stunted growth stood at 50% in 2006 (51.4 % for boys and 48.5% for girls). The emaciation level is high for children below five years with 10.3 % (11.2% for boys and 9.4 % for girls) while underweight affected 44.4% of children below five years. One of the major causes of malnutrition among children is the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding of babies up to the age of six months (14%). It should be noted that parents do not always have a correct perception of the phenomenon since at least one-third of them perceive the phenomenon of malnutrition among their children.

185. Furthermore, a relatively high proportion (19%) of women suffers from chronic energy deficiency. This could be a risk factor during pregnancy. On the other hand, 13% of women are classified as overweight, and this could foster the development of certain diseases (diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and cardio-vascular diseases). Furthermore, nearly one woman out of every two is anemic (46%) as against 24% for men. The consumption of nutritive supplements is low among pregnant women is low (22% for the consumption of vitamin A and 45% for iron).

(d) Access to drinking water and poverty

186. As part of activities during the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (IDWSSD) (1981-1990), the water and sanitation sector has undergone major changes, with in particular the revision of the Water Resources Development and Management Master Plan in 1998 and adoption of a Water and Sanitation Policy and Strategy Paper in October 2000. The water resources policy, planning and development instruments were supplemented by the adoption of rural and urban water supply policies.

Access

187. At the national level, the access rate of households to drinking water is 68.7% in 2005 as against 43% in 2000. In urban areas, this rate is 96.7% as against 60.3% in rural areas. The main source of drinking water supply for the entire country is wells. Indeed, 60.8% of households use this source of supply (42.8% use unprotected wells and 18% use protected wells). In rural areas, the proportion of households that use unprotected wells is high - 50.8%. At the regional level, there are wide disparities in tap water supply. While in Niamey more than 6 households out of 10 (65.3%) use this source, in the other regions of the country less than half of the households use it.

188. Furthermore, nearly 57% of households take more than 15 minutes to fetch water. The disparities are wide, depending on the place of residence. The current number of modern water points in rural built-up areas and the quality of water service force the population, particularly women, and to a lesser extent, youths, to spend more time on fetching water. This leads to a shortfall in production and poor school attendance for the children. Thus the fetching water takes up much of the time of women and girls; this limits their access to social, economic and political opportunities that can help them to get out of poverty.

189. The coverage of water needs in rural areas increased from 55% in 2001 to 59% in 2005. However, due to the non-functioning of some structures, the real rate is estimated at about 47%. As at 31 December 2005, Niger had 25,112 modern water points, including 13,672 cemented wells, 7,167 boreholes equipped with man-driven pumps, 501 mini-drinking water supply structures, 51 autonomous water stations and 21 pastoral water pumping stations. In urban areas, the coverage of water needs increased from 65% in 2001 to 80% in 2005.

Institutional reforms

190. The option to empower all the stakeholders of the water sector is reflected by:

- the restructuring of the urban water supply sub-sector with the creation of the “Société de Patrimoine des Eaux du Niger” (SPEN, a State water corporation) and the “Société d’Exploitation des Eaux du Niger” (SEEN, a private water company bound to SPEN by a leasing and performance contract) in 2001;

- the creation in 2006 of the National Water and Sanitation Board (CNEA), an advisory and consultation organ, that provides assistance in defining the objectives and orientations of the national water and sanitation policy;

- the adoption of a water supply infrastructure management policy involving gender-sensitive village committees and private operators, particularly as regards mini-drinking water supply structures.

Livestock watering

191. The problem of livestock watering is acute in pastoral areas (227,000 km²), particularly during the 9 months of the dry season, and also due to the fluctuating and unstable context of poorly assessed fodder potential. In addition to the major technical constraints of time changes and area dispersion, pastoral water supply is subject to none less important constraints at the socio-economic level (difficulty of assessing the cattle population from the stockbreeders), institutional level (two ministries, one of which is the project owner and the other principal contractor of water points, sharing the activities of the sub-sector) and socio-cultural level (individual or family or resident group ownership of the water point and space), which are specific to livestock in the pastoral zone.

Water resources

192. With respect to water resources, the irregular rainfall, the extremely difficult hydrogeological context of some regions, and the excessive depth of access to the most productive level of underground water are natural constraints likely to limit the development of the huge water potential (2,000 billion m³) because of the high costs of water control structures.

(e) Urban development, housing, sanitation and poverty

Urban development

193. Long considered as a rural country, Niger has not been left out of the urbanization process. The authorities’ option to transform some small entities into towns was an important factor in post-independence urban development.

194. The overall urban structure is heterogeneous, with towns of very unequal size. Most of the urban centres are located in the southern trip of the country which has the highest agricultural potential; the urban structure is still very unbalanced.

195. According to analyses of the General Population and Housing Census of 2001, the classification of towns, based on their population, is as follows:

- eight (8) “small towns” (less than 10,000 inhabitants);

- twenty-nine (29) “average-size towns” (from 10,000 to 99,000 inhabitants);

- two (2) “big towns” (from 100,000 to 499,000 inhabitants);

- one (1) “city” namely Niamey the capital with 707,951 inhabitants in 2001.

196. The major characteristics of urbanization in Niger are:

- the economic, social and cultural gap between the urban centres;

- extremely high concentration of the population in on large centre, Niamey (39.4% of the urban population);

- urban growth mainly causes irregular occupancy and building, particularly in Niamey.

197. In the 90s, population growth accelerated particularly in towns and regions conducive to trade, agriculture and stockbreeding. The proportion of urban population in the total population was trippled between 1960 and 2001; the urbanization rate increased from 5.2% to 16.2%.

198. This increase in Niger’s population in urban centres is due mainly to ecological crises¹, poverty and mining. The rural populations hope to enjoy better living conditions by migrating to towns. However, they increase the social expenses of the municipalities receiving them. Social demand for infrastructures (schools, health services, housing) and sanitation (roads, waste disposal system, etc.) increases, while the available resources become scarce. Social investments then become inadequate, in a context of scarcity, or even reduction of national resources (the sector is financed mainly by internal resources). Urban facilities and jobs cannot keep pace with the population growth.

199. Consequently, even though urban poverty is less than rural poverty, the living and housing conditions in the suburban quarters are increasing precarious, a situation fostered by the shortage of employment and lack of infrastructure, basic facilities and housing. Indeed, the big towns in Niger increasing appear as large conglomerations with abject poverty in which the populations face enormous difficulties in obtaining decent housing and basic infrastructures (education, health, water, hygiene, sanitation, transport, etc.) and in which there are high rates of unemployment and social exclusion.

200. The urban planning policy is based particularly on:

- the definition of a framework in which each town (more than 10 000 inhabitants according to the Economic and Social Development Plan (PDES) 1979-83) will develop in the medium and long terms: the Development and Town Planning Master Plan (SDAU);

- the programming, on this occasion, of priority investment actions (housing, equipment, infrastructure, etc.): the Priority Public Action Programme (PAPP);

- the establishment of a monitoring and implementation at the national level: the National Town Planning Workshop (ANU).

201. Accordingly, SDAUs have been prepared for the towns of Niamey, Maradi, Zinder, Tahoua, Dosso, Agadez and Mirriah. However, it should be noted that these town planning documents have, to a large extent, not been implemented and their time frames have expired. Furthermore, the high cost and delays in the studies made it difficult for the Government to prepare these tools for the other urban centres.

202. After drawing lessons from the town planning policies implemented over the 1980-1990 period, the public authorities decided to: (i) prepare and implement a new town planning reform by adopting Ordinance No. 97-005 of 17 January 1997 instituting provisional and operational town planning, as well as urban space utilization control tools and its implementing decrees; (ii) develop, test and disseminate the new simplified tools for town planning and urban investment programming, including council investments.

203. Furthermore, in order to remedy the inadequacies identified in the first version of the PRS, the Government adopted a National Urban Development Strategy (SNDU) in October 2004.

Housing

204. In Niger, due to the high concentration of the population in some areas and widespread poverty, households face enormous difficulties in obtaining decent housing and a healthy environment. Houses have been constructed by the Government and its related services in occasional operations in urban areas; from 1960 to date, the total number of houses is below 1,500, in addition to the construction of 551 housing units in Niamey during the 5^th Francophonie Games in December 2005. The housing loan granted by CREDIT DU NIGER (CDN), which is the sole financing institution in this sector since 1966 is low and targets only wage earners. Consequently, most of the houses are acquired through self-construction. In rural areas, a little more than nine households out of ten (94.2%) are owners of their houses; on the other hand, tenant households live mainly in the Niamey Urban Community (48.6%) while in the other urban centres, households who own their houses account for 63.9%.

205. The private rental market also provides houses to households. As regards the improvement of existing housing, mention should be made of an operation to rehabilitate an old quarter in Niamey (YANTALA) with financing form some partners¹ and the Government of Niger. This operation has helped to improve the housing conditions of the populations living in this quarter.

206. As concerns rural housing, interventions by the “Construction without wood” project have helped to reduce housing insecurity, by using earth instead of straw materials while preserving the environment. However, these constructions have been limited only to certain areas.

207. Earth (clay/earth) remains the most widely used material in building roofs (58.5%); although straw roofs are less expensive, they account for 26.6% of roofs, while roofs in corrugated iron sheets are very few (6.4%). Similarly, earth (earth/clay) is the building material most widely used by households (76.2% of the households use it for the walls). This predominance is both observed in rural areas (78.6%) than in urban areas (64.2%), which show some extent of housing insecurity. Houses of cement/concrete account for only 4.2%. Insecure housing exposes the population to weather hazards and natural disasters and limits their economic and social development.

208. In view of the inadequacies, Law No. 98-54 of 29 December 1998 on the National Housing Policy has been adopted to serve as reference framework in housing. Its implementation should, in particular, ensure the right to decent housing for all through: (i) the creation of a national housing fund, (ii) the creation of a housing bank, (iii) the creation of an urban rehabilitation and development agency, (iv) the institution of housing cooperatives and housing saving societies, (v) the promotion of housing loans by commercial banks, (vi) the promotion of private investment in the housing sector, and (vii) the promotion of home savings. However, most of these actions are still to be carried out; only the creation of a Housing Bank has been initiated with the current privatization of CREDIT DU NIGER.

Sanitation

209. Efforts are currently being made to implement a coherent policy in the sanitation sub-sector, particularly between the Ministries responsible for Town Planning, Housing, Surveys, Water Supply, the Environment, Health and Control of Endemic Diseases. Furthermore, a National Urban Environmental Management Strategy was adopted in 2001, and has led to the conduct of twelve (12) sectoral studies on urban environment.

210. However, according to the QUIBB survey, 78.4% of households do not have adequate toilets; the natural surrounding/bush is the most common place where people ease themselves. It is mainly in rural areas that people frequently ease themselves in the natural surroundings (about 90% of households) whereas in urban areas latrine seem to the most commonly used (62.7% of households outside Niamey); in Niamey, the use of latrines stands at 75.2%. These proportions remained unchanged between 1998 and 2006. As regards sanitation in rural areas, the access rate to infrastructure was 5% in 2004. Furthermore, the proportion of households with access to an adequate sewage disposal has increased slightly; it increased from 18.1% in 2000 to 19% in 2006.

211. Furthermore, household refuse disposal remains a crucial problem, particularly in urban areas; refuse is very often dumped around houses or sometimes in the few dustbins. Only 47% of the refuse is collected by the municipal councils and 10% are taken to the dumps, and no municipal council treats the waste.

212. Management is therefore poor at the level of sorting, on-site handling, organization of municipal refuse collection and waste treatment. Furthermore, the storm and wastewater drainage sub-sector suffers from lack of maintenance and old age of the infrastructure and facilities. The situation has negative impacts on the health of the populations.

213. To mitigate the serious threats of urbanization on the environment and ensure proper sanitation, urban development master plans (SDAU) have been prepared for the towns of Niamey, Maradi, Zinder, Tahoua, Dosso, Agadez and Mirriah, coupled with sanitation master plans (SDA) for the towns of Niamey, Tahoua, Maradi and Zinder. However, it should be noted that these town planning documents are not always respected, and are often even out of date. This situation has negative impacts on public health, and increases the risks of diseases (diarrhea, malaria, etc.).

214. Generally speaking, achievement of the targets of MDG7 is hampered by constraints relating to: (i) population growth, (ii) low financial allocations to the sector, (iii) social habits and behaviours of the population, and (iv) low incomes.

(f) Access to modern energy services

215. Niger’s energy consumption is low; the energy consumption per inhabitant is estimated at 0.14 tep as against an African average of 0.5 tep. Indeed, the main source of lighting in households in Niger is kerosene (80.1% of households light their homes with this fuels, with 84.4% in rural areas and 59.1% urban areas). The gas/batteries/candles/wood group is the second source of lighting in Niger with 10.4% of households, followed by electricity which is limited to urban areas and concerns 38.7% of households. However, there has been a relative improvement in access to electricity over the past few years; the access rate to electricity at the national level increased from 6.7% to 9.3% between 1998 and 2006.

View Full Size

Trend of Access to Electricity between 1988 and 2006

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2008, 149; 10.5089/9781451828795.002.A001

Sources: INS/MEF EDS 98 et 2006

• Download Figure
• Download figure as PowerPoint slide

216. Nearly all households (96.4%) use wood/charcoal as the main cooking fuel. Electricity and kerosene are not much used by households (0.1% and 0.9% respectively). This situation contributes to the increasing deforestation of the country. Generally speaking, in rural areas, women are responsible for fetching wood, and they are forced to cover increasingly long distances to obtain daily supplies. In the effort to promotion energy sources to replace wood, 40,000 improved fireplaces, 10,000 “TCHIP” kerosene stoves and 20,000 gas stoves have been disseminated. In 2004, a national campaign for the popularization of mineral coal was launched. In 2005, the “Société Nigérienne de Carbonisation du Charbon mineral” (SNCC) was established, thereby leading to the production of 800 tonnes of impregnated mineral coal, and 5,190 fireplaces between 2005 and 2006. Similarly, the Société Nigérienne du Charbon de l’AZAWAK (SNCA-SA) was established in July 2006 to strengthen the capacity of national electricity production (200 MW) and mineral coal production for domestic purposes.

(g) Employment and Poverty

217. The unemployment rate is officially estimated at 16%; it is higher in urban centres (19.4%) than in rural areas (15.2%). Women are more affected by unemployment with a rate of 25% against nearly 12% for men; the 15 - 29 age group records the highest rate (24%). The people most exposed to unemployment are those with relatively low level of education. Furthermore, the population of child workers stood at more than 15% of the working population. This situation is partly due to the poverty of households which forces them to take away their children from education structures; this leads to a decline in the quality of labour and a vicious cycle of poverty. Accordingly, 57.6% of the children work when they are not educated.

Table 12:

Unemployment Rate by Region

Source: QUIBB_2005_INS_MEF_ «Etude emploi, chômage et pauvreté au Niger »

Table 12:

Unemployment Rate by Region

Agadez	Diffa	Dosso	Maradi	Tahoua	Tillabéri	Zinder	CUN	Total
7.22	25.21	14.72	12.02	23.08	9.89	11.78	22.03	15.9

Source: QUIBB_2005_INS_MEF_ «Etude emploi, chômage et pauvreté au Niger »

View Table

Table 12:

Unemployment Rate by Region

Agadez	Diffa	Dosso	Maradi	Tahoua	Tillabéri	Zinder	CUN	Total
7.22	25.21	14.72	12.02	23.08	9.89	11.78	22.03	15.9

Source: QUIBB_2005_INS_MEF_ «Etude emploi, chômage et pauvreté au Niger »

218. Furthermore, the under-employment rate is very high; it stands at 34.62%, with 38.33% for women and 32.93% for men. Underemployment concerns mainly the rural populations (86.3%) because of the seasonal nature of farming.

219. There is structural mismatch between job applications and offers because of the high population growth and the structural deficiency of job offers, particularly due to the following aspects: (i) archaic production methods, particularly in the rural sector, (ii) the embryonic nature of the secondary sector, and (iii) lack of organization of the informal sector.

220. Generally speaking, job offers are declining while applications are increasing steadily, stimulated by high population growth. According to the National Employment Promotion Agency, in 2005 only 27% of job applications were unfilled (against 19% in 2000).

221. Jobs in the public services are declining steadily because of the reforms required in efforts to control the payroll (freeze on recruitment, reduction of the retirement age, etc.); the staff strength reduced by 13.3% over the 2000-2005 period; this had an impact of the quality of public service.

222. The urban informal sector, which handles about 15% of the urban working population, is growing rapidly, particularly in the transport, trade and building sectors. However, jobs in these sectors are not secure, unskilled, and unproductive with very low incomes; hence the permanent vulnerability of the actors.

223. The promotion of alternative and/or complementary activities to agriculture (income-generating activities, utilitarian handicraft) as well as remunerated mobilization of labour for collective utility works has been developed, particularly under the Special Programme of the President of the Republic.

224. Consequently, the employment challenges are mainly of two types: (i) employ the population outside the farming season (eight to nine months of the year) and (ii) offer jobs to the urban populations, particularly young graduates. Indeed, providing a lasting solution for job applications from youths from school is obviously a condition for preserving the future and opening better prospects for the youths of Niger.

(h) Access to Credit and Poverty

225. Difficult access to credit is a significant dimension of poverty. Indeed, most of the poorest, particularly actors in the primary sector, are unable to fulfill guarantee conditions.

226. Furthermore, interest rates are high in comparison to the low profitability of their activities. The QUIBB survey shows that, at the national level, households with members who borrowed money or goods account for only a little above one-quarter (25.6%) of Niger households.

227. This proportion is higher in rural areas (27% of rural households) than in urban areas (16% in Niamey and 21% in the other towns). At the national level, 67% of loans are granted by relatives or friends and 20% by another individual. Accordingly, only 12% of loans are granted formally by a private bank (1%), a micro-finance institution (7%), a cooperative (2%) or an enterprise (2%). Furthermore, there are wide disparities between the genders for access to credit.

Box 4:

Progress made by Niger in Achievement of some MDGs

View Full Size

• Download Figure
• Download figure as PowerPoint slide

Evaluation of the PNP

229. An evaluation of the PNP highlighted the low level of achievement of the expected results, with in particular an acceleration of population growth higher than the average economic over the period, notwithstanding the implementation off some sensitization, training and capacity building activities.

230. Specifically, mention could also be made of:

- inadequacies related to the conceptual framework, particularly the orientation of general principles and the failure to quantify the set objectives;

- difficulties related to implementation, due to socio-political and institutional instability which hampered the coordination of operations in the implementation, monitoring-evaluation and sustainability of the activities;

- inadequate capacities of civil society organizations to implement population-related programmes.

Population situation

231. The population of Niger stood at nearly 13 million inhabitants in 2006 (BCR, 2005). The population structure shows a high proportion of youths (47.6% below 15 years as against 4.5% above 60 years) and nearly perfect equal proportion of women and men (49.9% and 50.1% respectively). The population is unevenly distributed over the national territory, with a high density on arable lands on the south-west strip of the country (100 inhabitants per km² in some departments, as against national average of 8 inhabitants per km2). Agadez and Diffa regions, which cover more than 2/3 of the total surface area of the country, have only nearly 6% of the total population, while Dosso and Maradi regions, which are smaller, have one-third of the total population. The urbanization rate is relatively low (16.3 %) with a high concentration of the urban population in the capital (39.4%).

232. The exceptionally high population growth rate (3.3%) is due to the continued high level of fertility (7.1 children per woman according to EDS-MICS 2006) and a decline in infant mortality (from 123 per thousand in 1998 to 81 per thousand in 2006). According to the results of the EDS-MICS 2006 survey, there are very wide gaps in the total fertility rate depending on the level of education of the women, and ranging from a minimum of 4.6 children per woman for those with secondary education level to more than 7.3 children for those without education. Lastly, the total fertility rate varies significantly according to whether the women belong to rich households (6.2 children) or poor households (8.0 children).

233. Continued high fertility in Niger is due to a number of factors among which traditional values and beliefs play a key role: (i) the high level of child mortality encourages many births in the hope of making up for the deaths; (ii) the high proportion of marriages due to the importance of some cultural values, low rate of girls education and low incomes of most households.

234. Marriage is widespread (97.4% of women of child-bearing age are married) and early (60% of girls from 15 to 19 years are married, as against 17% in Benin and only 12% in Morocco). The median age at first marriage is 14.9 years for girls and 24 years for boys; (iii) the use of contraceptive methods is low (11%, with 5% for modern methods) due to a decline in postpartum insusceptibility, limited availability of modern contraception services, difficult access to contraceptive means and inadequate information and education. This situation is all the more disquieting as the ideal number of children (nearly 9 children for the women interviewed) is significantly higher than the total fertility rate.

a) Inequalities, gender disparities and poverty

235. Inequality is a wider concept than poverty which perceives the well-being of an individual (man or woman) or a household in terms of the relative position of the individual or household within a given group (household, community, population) or the role they play. It is the outcome of equitable distribution of resources, potentials, opportunities and capacities. It is notion closely linked to poverty on which it also has negative impacts.

236. It occurs in the following dimensions: (i) income/consumption distribution; (ii) differences between living conditions (health, education, feeding, housing, etc.); and (iii) potentials (initial physical, human, and social capital for individuals). Women, youths and children, in particular, suffer from inequalities.

237. The issue of inequality, which was not analyzed in the first PRS, is an innovation which helps to deepen knowledge of the phenomenon of poverty and identify growth-oriented activities in poverty reduction. Indeed, inequality helps to worsen poverty in almost all countries in the world. The aggravating impact of inequality on poverty reduces the favorable impact of growth. That is why growth promotion policies should be accompanied by redistributive measures to limit the negative impacts of inequality. Furthermore, income-generating economic activities contribute in various ways to inequality.

Source of income and inequalities in Expenditures

• - Source of Income

238. In the QUIBB survey, there are five main groups of sources of income as follows: (i) farm income, (ii) wages and salaries, (iii) grants and transfers, (iv) property income, and (v) other non-farm income. Subsistence farming is the highest income item, accounting for nearly 30% of the total income of households. The relative proportion of livestock in the country’s total income is estimated at 10%. Salaries and wages account for only 15.8% of the total income (7.9% for the public and semi-public sector, 4.6% for the modern private sector, and 3.6% for the other sectors). The three other sources of income account for more than three-fifths of the total cash income of households; they include property income (3.6%), grants and transfers (15%), and the aggregated group of the non-farm income (24%).

Table 13:

Breakdown of cash and non-cash Income by Source

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

Table 13:

Breakdown of cash and non-cash Income by Source

Source of Income	Proportion (in %)
1. Farm income	41.6
Income from subsistence farming	29.8
Income from livestock	9.7
Income from fisheries	0.4
Industrial farm income	0.9
Other farm income	0.8
2. Wages and Salaries	15.8
Public and semi-public salaries	7.9
Modern private sector wages	4.6
Wages from other private activities	3.3
3. Grants, transfers and other income	15.0
4. Interest, rents and property income	3.6
5. Other income from non-farm activities	24.0
Total	100

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

View Table

Table 13:

Breakdown of cash and non-cash Income by Source

Source of Income	Proportion (in %)
1. Farm income	41.6
Income from subsistence farming	29.8
Income from livestock	9.7
Income from fisheries	0.4
Industrial farm income	0.9
Other farm income	0.8
2. Wages and Salaries	15.8
Public and semi-public salaries	7.9
Modern private sector wages	4.6
Wages from other private activities	3.3
3. Grants, transfers and other income	15.0
4. Interest, rents and property income	3.6
5. Other income from non-farm activities	24.0
Total	100

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

• - Inequalities in expenditures

239. In Niger, the 20% poorest people make only 8.6 % of total expenses, while the 20% wealthiest people make 42.5% of total expenses. In other words, consumer expenditures for the 20% poorest people account for only one-fifth of the consumer expenditures of the 20% wealthiest people.

Table 14:

Proportion of Consumer Expenditures in the Total Expenditure by Quintile

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

Table 14:

Proportion of Consumer Expenditures in the Total Expenditure by Quintile

	1st Quintile	2nd Quintile	3rd Quintile	4th Quintile	5th Quintile	Total
Total Expenditures (million)	144 000	209 000	264 000	348 000	714 000	1 679 000
Proportion in total expenditures	8.6%	12.5%	15.7%	20.7%	42.5%	100%

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

View Table

Table 14:

Proportion of Consumer Expenditures in the Total Expenditure by Quintile

	1st Quintile	2nd Quintile	3rd Quintile	4th Quintile	5th Quintile	Total
Total Expenditures (million)	144 000	209 000	264 000	348 000	714 000	1 679 000
Proportion in total expenditures	8.6%	12.5%	15.7%	20.7%	42.5%	100%

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

240. Similarly, inequality in consumer expenditures is more significant between households than between individuals. A comparison of the Gini Index¹ between households in Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger, also shows that inequality is more significant in Niger than in Benin, irrespective of the standard of living selected, while it is more significant in Burkina Faso than in Niger.

Table 15:

Comparison of Gini Index for Consumption per Capita and per Household

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005 et rapport mondial sur le développement humain 2005

Table 15:

Comparison of Gini Index for Consumption per Capita and per Household

Country	Households	Individuals
Benin	0.3986	0.3838
Burkina Faso	0.4630	0.4643
Niger	0.4376	0.4384

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005 et rapport mondial sur le développement humain 2005

View Table

Table 15:

Comparison of Gini Index for Consumption per Capita and per Household

Country	Households	Individuals
Benin	0.3986	0.3838
Burkina Faso	0.4630	0.4643
Niger	0.4376	0.4384

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005 et rapport mondial sur le développement humain 2005

241. Inequalities are virtually the same in rural and urban areas. They are more significant in intermediate towns (Gini coefficient of 0.42 between households). Similarly, inequalities are more significant between households headed by women (0.495) than between households headed by men (0.432).

Gender, Promotion of Women and Poverty

242. Although women account for 50.14% of the population (RGP 2001), they benefit relatively less than men from the fruits of economic and social progress. Indeed, there are disparities between men and women in all areas: access to productive resources, employment, health, and education. The marginalization of this large group of the population slows down economic and social development. Survey findings concerning gender disparities show:

- Low participation of women in working life and a high unemployment rate. Less than three employed workers out of ten (27.4%) are women, whereas women account for 51.14% of the total working population. Similarly, the unemployment rate is twice higher among the female working population (25%) than for the male population (11.8%). This disparity is even more significant between working youths, with an unemployment rate of 33.9% for girls as against 24.3% for boys, whereas they account for one-third of the working youths. However, women’s work is generally under-estimated, and their contribution to national wealth is also underestimated;

- There are still significant inequalities in the division of labour: the daily workload of women, especially those in rural areas, is estimated at between 16 and 18 hours per days. The domestic workload in the daily timetable of women reduce their time for taking care of children, enrolment of girls, literacy education for women, and development of productive activities;

- Continued inequalities in access to education at all levels and in all forms of education. In rural areas, the quotient of the number of girls in comparison to the number of boys enrolled is only 70.8% (or seven girls for ten boys) in primary education. In secondary education, the ratio ranges from same to double (four girls for ten boys). Similarly, the ratio of the female population to the male population able to read and write is 35.2% (less than four girls for ten boys), with greater disparity according to the level of poverty (three girls for ten boys);

- the existence of disparities in terms of access to financial assets. Poor households headed by women have very low financing capacities in comparison to households headed by men; the average amount of savings hoarded per year is estimated at CFAF 13,230 for poor households headed by women as against CFAF 53,923 for poor households headed by men, leading to a higher financing gap. However, access to credit is higher for households headed by men (26.3% of loan applications granted) in comparison to households headed by women (17.5% of loan applications granted);

- significant disparities in terms of access to physical assets. Households headed by women have limited access to land; only 4.6% of households headed by women possess at least a farm as against 79.8% for men;

- the significant scope of violence against women, particularly early marriage, genital mutilations, and battering.

243. The reasons for continued gender disparities lie in the absence of a coherent legal framework, weak national capacities in knowledge of gender-related tools and mainstreaming them in policies, divergent approaches by the different actors, and socio-cultural resistance.

244. However, by adopting gender mainstreaming as a principle for PRS implementation and preparing a gender policy paper, Niger aimed at correcting the inequalities in access to resources, basic social services and economic opportunities to improve policy targeting. Similarly, the adoption of the “National Women’s Promotion Policy» in 1996 and several texts in favour of gender equality and promotion of women, demonstrated the will to gradually correct gender disparities. Accordingly, significant progress was made in the following areas:

- in primary education, the gross enrolment rate for girls increased from 33.3% in 2001/2002 to 44% in 2005/2006. As for the proportion of girls enrolled in schools, it rose from 29.6% in 2000-2001 to 41% in 2005-2006 (MEN statistical yearbook);

- in the area of health, measures were taken to reduce maternal mortality through: (i) free screening and treatment of breast and uterus cancers, as well as care for cesarean delivery and fibroma extraction, (ii) implementation of the reproductive health programme and STI/HIV/AIDS prevention activities, (iii) revitalization of the Extended Programme on Immunization (EPI) and malaria control activities;

- provisions to punish acts of violence against women are introduced into the Penal Code in 2004;

245. As regards participation, the Law on quotas (to ensure that 25% of appointments to duty posts and 10% of elective posts are granted to either sex) helped to improve the representation of women in decision-making organs. Women’s representation in parliament consequently rose from 1 in 1999 to 14 in 2004 out of 113, representing 12.4%, while women occupy 671 seats out of 3,747 in municipal councils; however, only 5 women are mayoresses in the 265 councils. In the Government (June 2007), women’s representation stood at 25%, with eight (8) female Ministers out of 32. In diplomatic representations, in 2006 there were 6 female ambassadors out of 19, representing 32 %. Furthermore, several committees and focal points have been created in the Ministries and State corporations or semi-public companies in implementation of the law on quotas;

- actions to reduce domestic work for rural women were under taken by bringing essential infrastructures such as water points and grain mills closer to them;

- various actions were undertaken by the Government, development partners, NGOs and Development Associations, particularly through an intensive campaign for the education of girls, as well as the creation of an operational network for female leadership. Furthermore, lines of credit exclusively for women were opened through MECREF (Mutuelle d’Epargne et de Crédit des Femmes) (Women’s Savings and Loan Society) and the Regional Solidarity Bank (BRS). The “credit to women” component of the Special Programme of the President of the Republic supports rural women by improving their incomes. Similarly, the process for creating “SARAOUNIA” bank (women’s bank) has been initiated.

246. Despite all these efforts, the mainstreaming of gender as a cross-cutting issue into the various sectoral policies has remained inadequate mainly because of the lack of disaggregated data.

Youth and Poverty

247. As the main component of Niger’s population (31% of the total), the youths (15 to 35 years old), are left to themselves and prey to a multidimensional crisis characterized by unemployment, under-employment, illiteracy, begging, delinquency, exodus, immigration and low participation in development activities, various diseases, including STI/HIV/AIDS, violence, etc. Such a situation has often led to violent reactions by youths (universities, schools, unions) demanding that their grievances be solved.

248. In order to provide a lasting solution to these problems and solve the crisis of the youths; particularly, as regards unemployment and under-employment, an Inter-Ministerial Youth Integration Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, has been set up. Similarly, a Niger Youth Parliament has been established; the activities of this structure have focused on: questioning Members of Government on children’s issues, advocacy for children’s rights, sensitization for registration of births, HIV/AIDS control, and reforestation activities. A youth national council and regional councils have also been put in place.

249. Furthermore, a National Youth Policy, which aims at ensuring the well-being of youths by making them the key actors and beneficiaries of local and national development, was adopted in 1998. The specific objectives of the National Youth Policy are as follows: (i) inform, educate and train youths; (ii) protect youths; (iii) ensure the socio-professional (economic) integration of youths; (iv) encourage the participation of youth in the community and public interest development (environmental protection, sanitation, construction of roads, schools, and dams); and (iv) promote youth associations. Furthermore, a youth socio-professional integration programme is being implemented with the following objectives: (i) contribute to growth that creates employment for youths by facilitating access to productive resources for youths; (ii) identify and develop youth training, literacy and supervision activities; (iii) ensure access to drinking water and a healthy environment; (iv) protect youths from drug addiction and increase access to reproductive health services; and (v) create a communication and recreation space.

250. Furthermore, the Government of the Republic of Niger in 2005 prepared, with the support of partners, a framework document for the National Reproductive Health Programme (PNSR) with nine components, including the management of youths and adolescents. Accordingly, activities were carried out in several operations in the country, including the implementation of the Youth Sexual and reproductive Health Initiative; the activities created conditions for greater awareness of youths of problems relating to their sexual and reproductive health and STI/HIV/AIDS issues.

Child Protection and Poverty

251. Despite the adoption of a national child protection policy in 1999, many children are still marginalized and live under particularly difficult conditions. Accordingly, as regards child survival, health and nutrition indicators have made progress; however, they are generally very low. With respect to child development, various programmes and policies have helped to improve school attendance, particularly for girls. In the area of social security, despite the lack of exhaustive statistics, many children are in difficult situations due to separation from their biological family, for some, due to the lack of security and love, for others, and due to the poverty of their families. These street children are victims of economic exploitation, engage in begging and delinquency, and are groups most vulnerable to the AIDS pandemic, harmful traditional practices, while some are in conflict with the law. The situation of children is also marked by the spread of some phenomena such as child labour (15% of the working population according to QUIBB data). Furthermore, girls are victims of early marriages (49%).

252. The results of EDS-MICS 2006 show that few children are registered with the civil status registry (32% as against 45% in 2000) whereas registration of the birth of a child at the civil status registry makes him /her legally member of a family and nation, confers on him/her a nationality as well as the right to be protected by the State when there is no parental protection. It also enables him/her to enjoy social benefits from their parents, such s health insurance, and to inherit from the parents. The proportion of children registered in the civil status registry is higher where the households to which they belong are rich, from 20% for the poorest quintile to 67% for the richest.

253. Generally speaking, the following constraints hamper children’s rights and protection:

- the lack of reliable data and disaggregated indicators on the situation of children, which makes it impossible to prioritize actions for the different target groups;

- inadequate collaboration between the different technical services concerned with children does not facilitate the coordinated management of children;

- the low capacity of the National Committee for the survival, protection and development of children in their role of monitoring the implementation of the CDE;

- inadequate apprentice and social integration centres for children in difficulty;

- coexistence of three sources of law (modern, Muslim and customary) does not facilitate child protection;

- the National Child protection Policy is not adapted to the current context;

- poor operation of NGOs inn the area of children in difficulty;

- inadequate human, financial and material resources do not facilitate the management of children, particularly placement in families or reception centres.

254. However, significant progress has been made with the ratification of international and regional texts (CDE, CADBE, CEDEF) and harmonization of national laws concerning childhood, establishment of courts for minors, fight against harmful traditional practices, particularly mutilations of female genital organs, early marriages and pregnancies with the punishment of mutilations of female genital organs and decline in the prevalence rate of this practice which feel from 5% in 1998 (EDSN2) to 2.2% in 2006 (EDS-MICS 3). The most important achievement is the emergence of NGOs concerned with children, but unfortunately very few of them operate in favour of children in difficulty. In general, these structures are limited by the inadequacy of operating resources, human resources and ineffectiveness of field activities.

b) Vulnerabilities, limited social security and poverty

255. Vulnerability is considered as the potential risk for individuals to find themselves in a situation of poverty (or to get into a worse situation in the future), to experience a period of food insecurity or be a victim of disease. This definition implies the classification of individuals on the basis of a risk threshold of becoming poor or experiencing a period of food insecurity. However, vulnerability is difficult to measure, because it is a concept so dynamic that a single observation cannot sufficiently grasp the risk. Nevertheless, it is necessary to look for a way of properly identifying vulnerable populations.

256. In 2005, more than nine persons out of ten were considered as vulnerable to poverty (90.7% of the population against only 9.3 % considered as non-poor and non-vulnerable), particularly in the categories of people who are in a situation of poverty for a long time (« long-term poor¹ ») (55.2% of the population), « transitional poor» (6.8%), « vulnerable non-poor» (13.4%) and « non-poor and non-vulnerable» (15.2%). People who live for a long time in poverty account for only 17.1% of the population in Niamey while they are 59.3% in rural areas and 47.4% in the other towns. They live in households in which the main activity of the employer is farming; long-term poverty rates are also high among individuals whose employer is the mining or energy sector (49%), production and processing sector (46.1%), building sector (57.8%), trade and sales sector (42%) and services sector (36%).

Table 16:

Classification of the Poor according to Vulnerability by Place of Residence

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

Table 16:

Classification of the Poor according to Vulnerability by Place of Residence

	Niamey	Other Towns	Rural	Total
“Long-term” poor	17.1	47.4	59.3	55.2
Transitional poor	9.9	8.2	6.4	6.8
Vulnerable and precarious non-poor	4.8	2.0	15.4	13.4
Vulnerable non-poor	38.2	13.8	13.6	15.2
Non-poor and non-vulnerable	29.9	28.8	5.3	9.3
Total	100	100	100	100

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

View Table

Table 16:

Classification of the Poor according to Vulnerability by Place of Residence

	Niamey	Other Towns	Rural	Total
“Long-term” poor	17.1	47.4	59.3	55.2
Transitional poor	9.9	8.2	6.4	6.8
Vulnerable and precarious non-poor	4.8	2.0	15.4	13.4
Vulnerable non-poor	38.2	13.8	13.6	15.2
Non-poor and non-vulnerable	29.9	28.8	5.3	9.3
Total	100	100	100	100

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

257. The majority of households in which the head has no education (59%) are “long-term” poor. On the other hand, the majority of categories of households in which the head have secondary education, vocational and technical training, or higher education are vulnerable non-poor (15.2%) and non-poor non-vulnerable (9.3%). The majority of people whose main employer is the Government (public and semi-public administration) are “non-poor and non-vulnerable” (more than 40%). Individuals and employees of private companies (modern and informal) are mostly “long-term poor” (63.9% and 52.5%).

Table 17:

Vulnerablility to Poverty for Individuals according to Employer of main job

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

Table 17:

Vulnerablility to Poverty for Individuals according to Employer of main job

	Government	Parapublic	Private Company	Private Individual or household	Others	Total
Long-term poor	14.9	18.1	52.5	63.9	58.3	55.5
Transitional poor	8.9	9.1	7.2	5.7	5.7	6.6
Vulnerable and precarious non-poor	3.0	1.0	14.7	13.1	11.2	13.5
Vulnerable non-poor	32.5	31.7	17.4	10.1	14.2	15.1
Non-poor and non-vulnerable	40.7	40.2	8.3	7.2	10.7	9.3
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

View Table

Table 17:

Vulnerablility to Poverty for Individuals according to Employer of main job

	Government	Parapublic	Private Company	Private Individual or household	Others	Total
Long-term poor	14.9	18.1	52.5	63.9	58.3	55.5
Transitional poor	8.9	9.1	7.2	5.7	5.7	6.6
Vulnerable and precarious non-poor	3.0	1.0	14.7	13.1	11.2	13.5
Vulnerable non-poor	32.5	31.7	17.4	10.1	14.2	15.1
Non-poor and non-vulnerable	40.7	40.2	8.3	7.2	10.7	9.3
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Source: ME/F/INS/QUIBB_2005

258. The vulnerability data confirm the results of EPP2 which show that to come out of poverty or resist external shock, the initial situation is of key importance. Indeed, the capacity of households to maintain and/or rise to a higher standard of living depends heavily on three major factors: (i) the resources and other capital held by the households, before the event; (ii) the network of relations that the households can mobilize to mitigate the constraint; (iii) the experience which the households, individuals and communities have acquired in handling hardship.

Vulnerability to food insecurity

259. Poverty and vulnerability to natural disasters are closely linked, and they reinforce each other. Disasters cause misery and distress that can temporarily push certain groups beyond the poverty line; they also contribute to persistent and chronic poverty. Natural disasters can cause deaths, destroy houses and property, destroy opportunities for earning a living, disrupt education and delivery of social services, reduce savings and create health problems, sometimes with long-term consequences.

260. Natural disasters can also disrupt ongoing poverty reduction activities and lead to the reallocation of the related financial resources to assistance and rehabilitation operations.

261. Poverty can be worsened by deliberate choices of means of subsistence made ex ante by poor households to give up the potential benefits of higher-yield or more profitable crops and choose those which resist better against vagaries of the weather.

262. On their part, poor and socially underprivileged groups are among those who run the highest risk in unstable climatic conditions, as a result of their social, cultural, economic and political environment.

263. In Niger, there are frequent food shortages due to natural disasters, like the one in 2005. The disasters mostly consist in drought, locust invasions and flooding. The main consequence of these disasters is increased food and nutritional insecurity, especially for the most vulnerable people.

264. According to the survey on the food vulnerability of households, food insecurity is a situation in which the populations do not have access to an adequate quantity of healthy and nutritive food to meet their food needs; it is mainly caused by food shortage, as a result of insufficient rainfall, low purchasing power or poor use of food in households.

265. Determining whether people are in food insecurity is based on a statistical analysis of five variables reflecting the three dimensions of food insecurity, namely availability, accessibility and use. The variable identified are: (i) food consumption of households; (ii) overall expenditures, (iii) duration of available food stocks, (iv) possession of cattle, and (v) income from the production of cash crops.

266. Accordingly, the results of the survey conducted in November 2006 by the Government of Niger, in collaboration with technical partners, show that 30% of the population of Niger are in food insecurity, with 9% in severe food insecurity and 21% in moderate foods insecurity.

267. The most affected regions are Tahoua, Tillabéri, and Zinder, followed by Dosso, Agadez and Maradi. The breakdown according to area of residence shows that rural areas are more affected (10.0% of severe food insecurity, 20.5% of moderate food insecurity and 30.5% with the risk of food insecurity) than the urban areas (4.5% of severe food insecurity, 20.1% moderate food insecurity and 24.6% with the risk of food insecurity).

268. Households in severe food insecurity (9.3%) suffer from deficits with respect to each dimension of food insecurity, namely availability, accessibility and use. Indeed, their food situation is based on cereals, consumed irregularly (not every day continuously for lack of means). Proteins, fruits and dairy products are almost absent from their diet. There are generally very poor households who spend less than CFAF 100 (US$ 0.2) per day and per person. They do not possess cattle or enough food stocks (less than two months’ consumption) to cover their food needs. Their crop yields and the income generated by cash crops are very low.

269. Furthermore, the proportion of households in severe food insecurity headed by women is much higher. Consequently, severe food insecurity affects more the single parent households headed widowers and widows and households that depend on precarious sources of income such as the sale of wood or straw, daily-paid work, petty trade and handicraft. It also affects a high proportion of farmer households.

270. When faced with food insecurity, households adopt various survival strategies: (i) reduction of the number of daily meals (32% of households) or daily ration (57% of households), (ii) sale of cattle they possess (particularly young reproductive females) or house property; (iii) mortgage of lands and contracting debts; (iv) migration or exercise of new income-generating activities. Chronic food insecurity of households is one of the main causes of malnutrition among children.

Vulnerability to disease and low social coverage

271. In Niger, social security is managed exclusively by the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) in the form of family allowances, occupational hazards, pensions (old age, disability, and survivor’s) and the social action fund. Over the past five yeas, the CNSS has distributed nearly CFAF 22 billion, as support to families with dependent children, annuities to victims of industrial accidents and compensation to victims of industrial accidents during the period of disablement and women during maternity leave, health care, as well as personal and survivor’s pension.

272. Despite these efforts, the social security system covers less than one person out of ten in Niger, because of the weak modern economy; it does not also cover sickness and unemployment risks. Most of the people in Niger are therefore highly vulnerable to morbidity.

273. The Government has conducted an actuarial study on the CNSS and a study on the pension system in Niger. Similarly, it has embarked on a reform of the CNSS with threes (3) main objectives: (i) reduce the current and actuarial deficit; (ii) expand social coverage and develop new products; and (iii) mobilize long-term resources to finance the economy. The implementation of this reform is far behind schedule.

Promotion of the rights of handicapped persons and protection of the elderly

274. According to the results of the RGPH, 80,035 persons have a handicap; they represent 0.7% of the total resident population. At the national level, 33.4% of handicapped persons have multiple handicaps. Persons handicapped at the lower limbs represent 13.4%, the blind 11.45%, and the deaf 10.6%. About two handicapped persons out of ten (1.85%) suffer from leprosy and one handicapped person out of 10 (10.23%) suffer from mental deficiency. Furthermore, nearly 4 handicapped persons out of 5 (78%), aged 6 years or above, are not educated. Only 7.3% of handicapped persons have primary education, and 10.7% have coranic education.

275. At the national level, the activity rate of handicapped persons is 47.2%. Furthermore, 58.7% of working handicapped persons are men and 31.3% are women. However, the situation varies according to the area of residence.

276. Handicapped persons are victims of marginalization and inadequate vocational and technical supervision. Within this group, the situation of persons affected by mental diseases is extremely difficult. Indeed, these persons are very often abandoned by their families. They are marginalized in the society and benefit from limited social security in terms of health services. Their survival and reintegration in case of cure are major causes for concern.

277. Furthermore, 4.5% of Niger’s population are 60 or above (496,120 people, according to the third RGPH), of which 47.8% are women. Close to nine out of every ten elderly people live in rural areas (85.7% of the elderly in rural areas and 14.3% in urban areas). These people are sometimes victims of material insecurity and/or isolation due to inadequate social security, in an environment marked by decreasing solidarity and rapid urbanization.

278. In order to address the problems of handicapped and elderly persons and other vulnerable groups, Niger has since 1998 been implementing a National Social Development Policy aimed at promoting national solidarity by fostering social justice, legal protection, social progress, social well-being and social security for vulnerable groups. Major achievements have been recorded in this area; they include: (i) the preparation and implementation of a three-year action plan of the National Technical Committee for the Promotion of Handicapped Persons; (ii) the creation and installation of regional committees; (iii) the revision of regulations; (iv) the provision of specialized equipment to supervisory structures; (v) medical assistance to handicapped persons and the needy; (vi) the creation of specialized schools and integrative classes; and (vii) the implementation of a rehabilitation programme.

279. However, despite the significant efforts made, the situation of underprivileged persons (handicapped persons, prisoners, the elderly, etc.) remains a cause for concern. This situation is due to the complexity of social problems, the low capacities of Government structures, the little attention paid to issues relating to underprivileged persons, and sociological constraints.

(a) Transport

Road transport

284. Niger’s road network covers more than 18,443 km, comprising a registered network and a classified network. However, despite the large size of the network, according to the DSBE survey, only 20% of localities have access to tarred roads and 11% to laterite road. Furthermore, the network is denser in the south of the country, where large urban centres and the bulk of economic activity are located. A Road Maintenance Autonomous Sinking Fund (CAFER) has been created to guarantee the financing of road maintenance and sustainability of structures.

285. According to the results of the QUIBB survey (2005), motorized means of transport are very rare, and are mainly owned by households living in towns (3.9% of the cars and 11% of mopeds), with concentration in the Niamey Urban Community (11% of cars and 15.1% of mopeds). The public transport service is not accessible to the majority of households; on the whole, only 42.2% of households have access to the nearest transport less than 30 minutes away. The service is mainly accessible in urban areas (76.4% as against 33.8% in rural areas). For the rural populations, the most common means of transport is on foot, by carts and by pack animals. Furthermore, the incidence of poverty is higher in remote villages and peri-urban quarters than in villages and quarters with access to roads and means of transport.

Road Safety

286. Like in other countries in the world, road safety in Niger is far from excellent. In 2006, there were 3,869 road accidents, with 386 deaths and 5,152 wounded, some of whom will remain handicapped for life. The economic losses caused by road accidents have been estimated at more than CFAF 5 billion. Indeed, road accidents are both health and socio-economic problems (cost of treatment, loss of productivity due to handicaps and poverty generated by the loss of the main wage-earner and/or head of household).

Railway transport

287. Niger does not have railway lines on its territory. It operates, in co-ownership with Benin, the Cotonou -Parakou railway line (438 km) and its road extension to Niger through the Organisation Commune Bénin Niger (OCBN) which has embarked on a concessioning process to improve its management. Furthermore, in light of the importance of rail transport, Niger has initiated a railway interconnection project with Benin, Burkina and Togo known as “AFRICARAIL”.

288. Meanwhile, in order to reduce factor costs and ensure supplies, Niger uses several corridors from Benin, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.

Maritime and river transport

289. Most of Niger’s external trade is through the sea. That is why agreements have been signed with transit countries to facilitate passage in the various ports. To that end, back-up spaces and warehouses have been created in the ports of Cotonou and Lomé. Furthermore, a Niger container terminal has been constructed in Cotonou port.

290. River transport is mainly on the Niger river which is an access route to the sea and regional trade, particularly with Nigeria, Mali and Benin. However, because of very low water levels and the existence of rocks, the navigability of the river is difficult, which facilitates the movement of only small traditional vessels.

Air transport

291. The country has six (6) main airports, including three (3) international airports (Niamey, Agadez and Zinder) and three (3) national airports (Maradi, Tahoua, Diffa). Furthermore, it has 12 secondary runways. Over the 2002-2006 period, several investments were made in Niamey and Agadez to reinforce and extend the airport pavements and improve airport security. However, the low number of international flights pushes up transport costs and affects the country’s competitiveness. The limited services in the country also reduce mobility of persons and do not foster the development of tourism sectors, despite the country’s enormous assets.

(b) Energy supply

292. The low energy supply and the country’s dependence on this factor of production increase costs for business persons and households. In particular, the limited infrastructure development in the energy sector has made it difficult to satisfy an increasing potential demand.

293. Generally speaking, the energy sector is marked by: (i) low consumption of modern energy; (ii) disparities in national coverage for energy services; (iii) low tapping of national resources; (iv) the high cost of energy services. This situation is due to several factors, in particular:

• - inadequate coordination of the actors and operations;

• - inadequate synergy between social and production investments;

• - the country’s dependence with respect to energy;

• - the lack of long-term planning;

• - low investments in the sector, in which the bulk of financing is provided by the State;

• - low technical capacities ad human resources;

• - lack of knowledge on mineral deposits;

• - inadequate promotion, research/development, management and technical capacities, information and training;

• - limited consideration of environmental impacts by energy projects.

Electricity sub-sector

294. The national electricity production (202 GWH in 2005) covers less than 50% of local energy consumption needs (438 GWH); the deficit is made up by importing energy from Nigeria. However, the Niger river valley has enormous electricity potential with three favourable sites, in particular Kandadji (230 MW), Gambou (122.5 MW) and Dyodyonga (26 MW). Similarly, Niger has huge mineral coal deposits, particularly in Salkadamna about 80 km to the North-west of Tahoua and estimated at 30 million tonnes, and in Solomi in Agadez region, of 5586 Kcal/Kg and 5000 kcal/kg calorific power respectively.

295. The electricity coverage rate is increasing steadily, even though it is still below the expected target of 15% in 2005; it increased from 5.3% to 7.2% between 2000 and 2005. This improvement is due to:

• - the Special Programme of the President of the Republic which facilitated the electrification of 159 localities between 2001 and 2005;

• - the Interconnected Electric Network Development Project in Niger (DREIN) implemented by NIGELEC which extended electricity supply (medium and high voltage lines) to Tahoua region;

• - the Electric Network Extension and Reinforcement Project in Niger (PERREN) which aims at connecting localities by average voltage lines to the NIGELEC general interconnected network.

296. To enhance these efforts, a structure responsible for rural electrification has been created, and a Multisectoral Regulation Authority (ARM) has been installed.

Renewable Energy

297. This sub-sector, which comprises solar energy, wind energy, hydro-electric power and biogas, is underutilized (less than 0.1% of the national energy supply and disposition), despite its enormous potential. In order to enhance the development of this potential, the Government in 2004 adopted a national strategy and an action plan for renewable energy.

Domestic energy sub-sector

298. In efforts to promote the use of energy to replace wood, a nationwide campaign to popularize mineral coal was conducted in 2004. Accordingly, with the creation of SNCC (with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes), impregnated coal production will exceed the current 3,000 tonnes. Furthermore, in order to rationalize the use of wood, urban centres wood supply plans have been prepared and rural wood markets created.

Hydrocarbons sub-sector

299. Niger imports all the petroleum products it requires through the Société Nigérienne des Produits Pétroliers (SONIDEP) which has monopoly of imports with a storage capacity of 47,808 m^3. The products are distributed by several private operators with a storage capacity of 11,000 m³. To reduce this dependence, the Government has embarked on promoting the petroleum potential by diversifying its partners in oil exploration. To that end, three test borings started in 2003 and several companies have obtained prospecting permits in the North of the country.

(c) Information and communication technologies

Telecommunications

300. Niger has witnessed a huge telecommunications penetration, particularly as a result of mobile telephony with subscriptions increasing from 57,541 in 2002 to 546,094 in 2006; the telephone density was 4.94% in 2006 (as against 8% recommended by NEPAD). However, despite this significant increase, 79% of the rural councils (169 councils out of 213) are not covered by fixed telephone or GSM telephony. 84% of the rural councils (178 councils out of 213) are not covered by GSM. Furthermore, telephone communications costs remain exorbitant, especially the mobile telephone, and is becoming a limiting factor for the competitiveness of the productive sector.

Information technology and Internet

301. As regards the use of Information and Communication Technologies, the current situation shows that most public and private institutions, NGOs and IGOs have computer equipment (78%) and a server (62%). However, mention should be made of the low power bandwidth (31 megabits per second), low penetration of ICTs into the hinterland, and the high cost of Internet access. However, the Government has embarked on the interconnection of the Ministries. A feasibility study on an inter-Governmental Intranet has been conducted, and a call for tenders has been launched. Similarly, a wide scale optic fibre link programme has been started to connect Niger to Burkina Faso and Benin. Furthermore, Niger has since 2004 been implementing a National Development Communication Policy (PNDC), as well as a National Communication and Information Technology Development Plan (NICI).

(d) Government Buildings

302. To date, there are no reliable data to objectively present the current situation off government buildings. The only study conducted by the State in this area dates back to 1984. The study, which focused on the management and maintenance of government buildings, was limited to determining the number of government buildings so as to facilitate their management and maintenance; no other action followed this operation. Furthermore, the most recent available information dates as far back as 1993.

303. Indeed, at that time, a commission responsible for taking stock of the situation estimated that State property was made up of 3,327 buildings for residential purposes and 1,424 buildings used as offices.

304. The number of buildings, belonging to the State, therefore stood 4,751 in 1993, 91.47% of which were constructed with solid materials. Between 1983 and 2007, Niger made significant efforts in the construction of other government buildings. The disparity in the construction of these buildings and the lack of databank make it difficult to carry out a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of State property.

305. Nevertheless, it is easy to realize that State property is inadequate because several government services are in private buildings under lease contracts. Generally speaking, government buildings are in an advanced state of degradation and dilapidation, and do not meet the current requirements and needs. Furthermore, the employees are cramped in their offices. This situation is partly due to the limited means of the Government in recent years which do not allow for adequate allocations for maintenance of State property.

(a) Political Governance

Identification and consolidation of the rule of law

306. The return to constitutional normality, following the presidential and parliamentary elections in December 1999 enabled Niger to get out of the vicious circle of recurrent circle of recurrent socio-political crises which greatly hampered development in the 1990s. Consequently, all the institutions of the Republic were installed, as well as four other organs, thereby consolidating democracy; they are the National Human Rights and Basic Freedoms Commission (CNDH/LF), the Higher Communication Council (CSC), the National Political Dialogue Council (CNDP), the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (CESOC), the Local Authorities High Council (HCCT), the National Social Dialogue Commission (CNDS), the National Commission for formulating Anti-Corruption Strategies (CNSLCC), the National Private Investors Council (CNIP) and the National Labour Council (CNT). The major missions of these organs are to provide appropriate answers to the political, socio-economic and cultural concerns of the populations, as well as promote human rights.

307. The adoption of an Electoral Code and subsequent installation of a National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) facilitated the holding of local, presidential and parliamentary elections in a peaceful socioeconomic atmosphere in 2004, as well as the enhancement of cohesion and dialogue between the various actors.

308. However, several factors limit the institutional development of the country, in particular: (i) the limited civic and political culture; (ii) the limited involvement of the various civil society structures in the drafting of laws concerning them; (iii) inadequate communication between government officials and the populations.

(b) Legal Governance

309. Since 2004, the Government has been implementing a Judicial Reforms Support Programme (PARJ) which facilitated adoption of the reform of the Penal Code, the Penal Procedure Code, the decree on the implementation of public utility works, as well as the organic laws on the Court of Auditors, the State Council and the Supreme Court of Appeal. Furthermore, a preliminary draft of the Civil Procedure Code has been prepared. As regards the criminal procedure, the court appearance procedure on the preliminary recognition of guilt “plead guilty” was introduced.

310. Furthermore, this reform has provided Niger with a new judicial map by transforming Sections of the court into High Courts (TGI). New courts have been created and new magistrates and trainee judges have been recruited. Several training sessions have also been organized for the magistrates, registrars and prison staff, police and gendarmerie on various themes: OHADA law, a posteriori control of the acts of local authorities, human rights, etc.

311. Similarly, the construction of new prisons, as well as an increase in resources for their functioning, has helped to improve conditions of detention.

312. Public freedoms have been further consolidated, particularly through: regular reports of the National Human Rights and Basic Freedoms Commission (CNDH/LF), increase in the number of associations for the defence of human rights, and regular conduct of their activities, as well as an increase in the number of private press organs. Furthermore, a national conflict prevention and management strategy has been adopted to foster dialogue, consultation and the culture of peace.

313. However, despite the significant efforts made, Niger’s judicial system still faces the following constraints: (i) the obsolescence of some texts; (ii) inadequate human, material and financial resources; (iii) poor supervision of magistrates; (iv) archaic management of files at a time when NICTs offer enormous possibilities of communication and management; (v) difficulty of understanding some court decisions.

(c) Administrative Governance

314. A wide range of administrative reforms have been initiated with the aim of improving the efficiency of the public administration. The creation of a High Commissioner for Modernization of the State (HCME) as a mission administration, aims, in relation with the Ministries concerned, at designing, supervising, coordinating, monitoring and evaluating all actions to modernize the State and local authorities in accordance with the policies defined by the Government.

315. To that end, a State reform support programme will be prepared and adopted. The programme will address the need to reform the State following the major changes over the last decade. Already, an Integrated Public Administration Modernization Programme (PIMAP) has been prepared, and measures have been taken to put government workers back to work, with the holding of the General Conference, time-keeping, and introduction of non-stop working day.

316. Despite the progress made, many weaknesses still affect the functioning of the public service. Indeed, there is still:

- low rate of administrative supervision, which in 1999 was one (1) employee for 223 inhabitants (as against one (1) employee for 158 inhabitants in Mali, and one (1) employee for 102 inhabitants in Côte d’Ivoire), has not changed, since the staff strength of the public service has also declined (13.3% between 2000 and 2005). Similarly, the early retirement of competent senior and high-level staff between 1997 and 2006 did not facilitate skills transfer to younger civil servants;

- inefficient management of staff files and lack of a coherent remuneration policy;

- high propensity for the reorganization of Ministries leading to high management costs, many late transfers of archives and the subsequent losses of memory and professionalism as well as risks of overlapping of responsibilities;

- the politicization of the administration leading to greater mobility of senior staff in line with political changes;

- the inadequate human, material and financial resources of the decentralized administrative services;

- poor circulation of information within public services and the lack of public relations policy.

(d) Economic Governance and Fight against Corruption

317. Several measures have been taken to strengthen economic governance in Niger; they include:

- the adoption of the PEMFAR and its action plan as the reference framework for improving the management of public finance;

- the harmonization of public finance management instruments with WAEMU directives;

- the gradual reduction of domestic arrears, improvement of the budget preparation process;

- the conduct of Public Expenditure Reviews and preparation of Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEF) in priority sectors;

- independent evaluation of the use of HIPC resources;

- the integrated computerization of the expenditure chain;

- reform and adoption of the Public Procurement Code with the creation of a Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ARMP) and a General Directorate for Public procurement Control;

- the installation of a Multisectoral Regulatory Authority and a National Private Investors Council (CNIP);

- the establishment of a National Commission for formulating anti-corruption strategies; and

- the reinforcement of budgetary controls with the creation of a Court of Auditors and General Financial Control Directorate.

318. Furthermore, in order to moralize the management of public funds, inspections and audits were conducted in several sensitive services (revenue offices, development projects, public service, etc.). Following these inspections, about sixty (60) cases of misappropriation of public funds were identified and referred to the courts for appropriate prosecution of the persons concerned. Already, several offender, co-offenders or accomplices have been sanctioned and the Government has got back its funds.

319. Generally speaking, the shortcomings in economic governance are related to a number of factors including:

• - lack of macro-economic vision in tax management;

• - low capacities of external control structures (Parliament and Court of Auditors)

• - inadequate institutional and legal framework for combating corruption (non-implementation of texts, lack of strategies);

• - low capacities of stakeholders in the fight against corruption;

• - population’s inadequate knowledge of the negative impacts of corruption on economic and social development.

(e) Local Governance and Decentralization

320. The organization of municipal elections in July 2004, as well as the installation of the deliberative and executive organs of the 265 councils in October 2004 helped to consolidate the decentralization process, based on the total communalization plan.

321. Furthermore, in order to reinforce the institutional framework of decentralization and guarantee the autonomy of local authorities, a Local Authorities High Council was created. Indeed, in view of their proximity and the areas of competences legally granted to them, local authorities are increasing in the appropriate position to operationalize policies on poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs.

322. In order to consolidate the process and enhance the legal and institutional framework of decentralization, studies have been conducted on: (i) the definition of a deconcentration charter in Niger; (ii) the problems of decentralization and nomadic communities in Niger; (iii) the financing of investments by local authorities in infrastructures and equipment in Niger; (iv) the establishment of a Decentralization Support Fund and an Equalization Fund in Niger (v); land tenure and decentralization, (vi) operationalization of the transfer of areas of competence from the Government to the local authorities, (vii) the tax system of councils, (viii) council project ownership, and (ix) preparation of a training framework for decentralization stakeholders.

323. In addition, there are ongoing activities to review the main basic texts on decentralization so as to draft a bill on the Local Authorities General Code.

324. Furthermore, the Government supports the preparation of the harmonized National Guide for council planning and capacity building for community organizations.

325. However, the novelty of the process poses a number of difficulties for the local authorities, in particular: (i) inadequate financial resources; (ii) low transformation of national policies and strategies into local and community guidelines; (iii) poor coordination of the various ministerial structures claiming leadership of the decentralization process; (iv) low institutional capacities of the new councils and lack of preparation of stakeholders (many of whom are illiterate, without training for their role).

(f) Empowerment of the People

326. Access to information and participation in decision–making are important dimensions in poverty. According to the QUIBB_2005 survey, most households are members of a political party (58%), 14% are members of a village development association and between 8% and 11% are members of a cooperative, a tontine, or an education or health committee.

327. Similarly, the survey shows that 90% of households feel that they participate in decisions concerning the life of their locality, or that they are well integrated into its social life. This proportion is higher in rural areas (92%) than in urban areas (78%). There are not significant differences in how they feel about participation or integration between the poor and the rich. The major reasons for the lack of integration are as follows: (i) discrimination (30%); (ii) lack of transparency in the decision-making process (20%); and (iii) the lack of community life (20%). Furthermore, according to the survey, above 90% of households have a member who can express himself/herself freely during local meetings.

328. Consequently, as a result of the easing of political tensions in the late 80s, empowerment of the people started with the emergence of several civil society organizations. In 2005, there were nearly 600 NonGovernmental Organizations and Development Organizations (NGO/DO), 600 associations, 5 trade unions, and more than 5,000 grassroots community organizations.

329. The population of Niger also enjoys easy access to information. According to the QUIBB survey, 55% of households have a radio set and 6.8% a television set. The country has about one hundred rural and community radio stations, a nationwide public radio with regional and departmental stations, about fifteen private radios broadcasting mainly in the capital and regional chief towns, about sixty private newspapers published regularly, two public television channels and four private television channels.

330. By being better informed and participating more in the debate on national policies and operating close to the grassroots communities, the civil society appears as a national development stakeholder. The local focus of NGO/DAs makes them effective instruments of the territorial development policy. Furthermore, civil society organizations (CSO) influence public action; for example, they have obtained from the Government the revision of the Finance Law in 2006, as well as price cuts for basic commodities.

331. However, despite this significant progress recognized by all, relations between the CSOs and the supervisory institutions (Ministries responsible for the Interior and Community Development) have sometimes been lukewarm. Similarly, the low capacity, administrative redtape, the concentration of decision-making centres in the capital, non-compliance with the rules of collaboration and poor coordination of support from development partners are factors that limit the smooth participation of CSOs in the development process.

332. Lastly, the emergence of CSOs in the 90s, within a changing political context, today creates confusion in responsibilities because the rule that defines their areas of intervention is diffuse and imprecise.

(a) Inadequacies in PRS financing and budget implementation

333. The problem of financing interventions of priority actions is a major challenge for the Poverty reduction Strategy. It concerns not only the capacity to manage internal resources, but also mobilization of the necessary external resources. Indeed, the stabilization of public finance and sectoral reforms, initiated since 2000, have facilitated the mobilization of domestic resources and development aid, as well as better resource allocation to PRS priority sectors.

Mobilization of domestic resources

334. The mobilization of domestic resources has recorded significant progress, particularly over the past five years. Indeed, tax pressure rose from 9.6% in 2002 to 11% in 2006. However, this rate, which is below the WAEMU standard (17%), is not enough to generate a substantial increase in public investments for the priority sectors. The large informal sector, which is difficult to tax, as well as the tax benefits granted by the Investment Code to investors, account for this situation.

Table 18.

Trend Tax Pressure Rate in Niger and some WAEMU Countries

(in % of GDP)

Source: Report on Multilateral Surveillance, WAEMU_June 2006; DGE/MEF

Table 18.

Trend Tax Pressure Rate in Niger and some WAEMU Countries

(in % of GDP)

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
WAEMU	13.7	14.0	14.6	14.6	14.8	14.9	15.9
Burkina Faso	11.1	10.3	10.7	10.8	11.8	11.3	12.4
Mali	11.9	12.3	13.8	14.2	14.9	15.4	14.6
Benin	13.9	13.5	14.4	14.9	14.6	14.5	14.9
Niger	8.3	9.1	9.6	9.9	11.0	10.3	11.0

Source: Report on Multilateral Surveillance, WAEMU_June 2006; DGE/MEF

View Table

Table 18.

Trend Tax Pressure Rate in Niger and some WAEMU Countries

(in % of GDP)

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
WAEMU	13.7	14.0	14.6	14.6	14.8	14.9	15.9
Burkina Faso	11.1	10.3	10.7	10.8	11.8	11.3	12.4
Mali	11.9	12.3	13.8	14.2	14.9	15.4	14.6
Benin	13.9	13.5	14.4	14.9	14.6	14.5	14.9
Niger	8.3	9.1	9.6	9.9	11.0	10.3	11.0

Source: Report on Multilateral Surveillance, WAEMU_June 2006; DGE/MEF

Mobilization of external resources

335. In June 2003, Niger organized the Development Partners Forum on the Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Forum reaffirmed the general TFP consensus on the strategy and obtained the commitment of all the parties to make the PRS the only reference framework for their support to the economic, financial and social policy of Niger.

336. Similarly, a number of commitments were made, relating to the adoption of the programme approach, harmonization of the procedures of partners, and development of monitoring-evaluation mechanisms.

337. Accordingly, during the PRS implementation period, international aid increased after a decline at the end of the 90s due to socio-political instability. Between 2002 and 2006, the country received the equivalent of CFAF 752.8 billion in new financing. This aid was provided mainly as grants (60%). It contributed enormously to the achievement of PRS outputs, in particular improvement of the social indicators, development of infrastructure, and capacity building. In particular, Niger benefited from the HIPC and MDRI initiatives (CFAF 255.55 billion between 2001 and 2006).

338. In particular, Niger benefited from the HIPC and MDRI Initiatives (for CFAF 255.55 billion between 2001 and 2006).

View Full Size

Reduced Amounts under HIPCI and MDRI

(in US$ million)

Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2008, 149; 10.5089/9781451828795.002.A001

Source: World Bank

• Download Figure
• Download figure as PowerPoint slide

Resource allocation to sectors

339. Regarding sector allocation of budgetary resources, the allocations to education, health and the rural sector increased from 14.6%, 10.9% and 14.6% in 2001 to 13.3%, 9% and 18.2% respectively on average over the 2002-2005 period. The average implementation rate was about 75% in these sectors, whose financing depend heavily on external resources. Furthermore, resource allocation to priority sectors of the PRS fluctuated between 2002 and 2005 mainly as a result of the volatility and unpredictability of external assistance for them.

Table 19.

Amount of Resource Allocations to Key Sectors over the 2002 2005 period

(in CFAF billion)

Source: MEF/ DGB and Work on Marco-economic Framework

Table 19.

Amount of Resource Allocations to Key Sectors over the 2002 2005 period

(in CFAF billion)

Sectors	Allocation	Share in the Allocation (in %)	Implementa ion	Implementation Rate (in %)	Share in the Budget at Implementation (in %)
Education	218.6	13.3%	188.35	86.2%	15%
Health	148.3	09%	113.23	76.3%	09%
Rural development	299.2	18.2%	203.44	68.0%	16.2%
Equipment/Transport	107.4	6.5%	72.18	67.2%	5.7%
Total PRS	773.53	47.2%	577.2	74.6%	45.8%
Others	866.49	52.8%	682.06	78.7%	54.2%
Total Budget	1.640.0	100%	1259.26	76.8%	100%

Source: MEF/ DGB and Work on Marco-economic Framework

View Table

Table 19.

Amount of Resource Allocations to Key Sectors over the 2002 2005 period

(in CFAF billion)

Sectors	Allocation	Share in the Allocation (in %)	Implementa ion	Implementation Rate (in %)	Share in the Budget at Implementation (in %)
Education	218.6	13.3%	188.35	86.2%	15%
Health	148.3	09%	113.23	76.3%	09%
Rural development	299.2	18.2%	203.44	68.0%	16.2%
Equipment/Transport	107.4	6.5%	72.18	67.2%	5.7%
Total PRS	773.53	47.2%	577.2	74.6%	45.8%
Others	866.49	52.8%	682.06	78.7%	54.2%
Total Budget	1.640.0	100%	1259.26	76.8%	100%

Source: MEF/ DGB and Work on Marco-economic Framework

340. Thanks to savings made on the external debt service following eligibility for the HIPCI, Niger initiated a vast programme of infrastructure construction, particularly in rural areas, through the Special Programme of the President of the Republic. Thee programme, which is one of the key instruments for PRS implementation, underwent independent technical and financial evaluation. The evaluation showed that major achievements have been recorded during the four years of programme implementation (3 years 10 months); they include:

- the construction of 1992 classes corresponding to 20% of the existing classes in solid materials;

- the construction of 1930 community health centres to ease the action of CSIs and district hospitals (3 health centres for one CSI);

- the construction and/or rehabilitation of 861 modern water points, thereby increasing the number of modern water points by 4%;

- the construction of 120 control dams and manure areas for the mobilization of new water resources for watering cattle and development of irrigated and flood recession crops;

- the rehabilitation and/or creation of 20 irrigation areas for the development of 4,364 irrigated ha;

- access to micro-credit for more than 80,000 women.

341. Obviously, PS/PR has helped to increase access by the populations to basic social services. It also helps to intensify crops and revitalize regional economies. This observation is confirmed by the general appreciation of the populations. Indeed, about 62% of the respondents of the EPP2 appreciate the PS/PR approach focused on satisfaction of the priority needs of the communities, particularly basic infrastructure.

342. However, these very positive results were mitigated by some factors, including: (i) the urgency of the operation at the beginning, which led to limited integration of the programme into sectoral policies and strategies; (ii) the low financial margin of contracting enterprises making the submission less attractive for many of them; (iii) monitoring of the quality of works due to lack of resources by the technical services and limited resource allocations; (iv) repayment difficulties were also noted in the programme audit report.

343. To remedy these inadequacies, corrective measures have been initiated; they are

• - the clarification of the procedures for coordination between the various actors;

• - capacity building for the technical services responsible for control;

• - compliance with the prescriptions of the Public Procurement Code;

• - improvement of procedures by using the new budget classification;

• - integration of PS/PR actions into sectoral programmes and strategies.

(b) Weaknesses of the planning and programming mechanism

344. With the PRS process, an innovative planning approach has been initiated, to define a concerted and consensual overall reference framework and put in place effective economic and social development strategies. Indeed, PRS preparation was based on a diagnosis of the situation and data from surveys, studies and opinions of the population.

345. However, the PRS process should be improved by building technical planning capacities and completing the sectoral MTEFs.

346. Similarly, there is no long-term prospective vision around which the PRS could identify and articulate medium-term priorities and strategies. Furthermore, very short time frames for the preparation of documents do not allow for investigations on certain relevant themes.

347. Inadequate application of results-based management (RBM) also limits the definition of policies, programmes and projects within a context marked by the predominance of short and medium terms in economic and financial programmes. These approaches have relegated long-term planning mechanisms to the background.

348. Although for the priority sectors, budget preparation is consistent with a macro-economic framework based on PRS objectives and existing medium term expenditure frameworks (MTEF), it is necessary to align the sector MTEFs on the State budget.

349. With respect to budget implementation, there are: (i) wide expenditure implementation gaps for capital projects on external financing due to unavailability of some implementation data, (iii) lack of annual infra analysis of budget implementation. Furthermore, these inadequacies coupled with regular and systematic analyses of the processes and results do not allow for a strategic approach to budget management.

(c) Inadequacies in programme management and implementation

350. The desire to effectively implement the PRS led to the selection of Ministries as pillars of programme implementation. Significant progress has been made at sectoral level, particularly in matters relating to harmonization and alignment to MDGs, with the establishment of MTEFs and Consultation Frameworks, especially in the education, rural development and health sectors.

351. However, PRS implementation has suffered from some shortcomings, in particular: (i) inadequate implementation levels of some programmes; (ii) high dependence of the Investment Budget on External Resources; (iii) inadequate coordination of development assistance and dialogue with TFPs, due mainly to poor consultation between the Government and Partners at the central and decentralized levels; (iv) limited alignment of the assistance strategies of some TFPs on those of the Government; (v) the diversity and complexity of partners’ procedures; (vi) the multiplicity of institutional actors and instability of some structures, prejudicial to the quality of dialogue with the partners; (vii) inadequacies in the participation of civil society organizations which can ensure that the investments are relevant and provide information on their own interventions; (viii) inadequacies in the participation of private sector actors whose performance is below expectations.

(d) Difficulties in coordination and functioning of institutions

352. The PRS institutional mechanism is coordinated by the PRS Permanent Secretariat at the technical level. This structure, which is the linchpin of the mechanism, has prepared various annual PRS implementation monitoring reports. The effectiveness and operation of the system largely depends on the capacity of the central structure to mobilize all the statistical data production and user structures in Government services, institutions and the civil society. However, this structure also encounters certain difficulties in carrying out its missions, in particular lethargy of certain committees of the institutions, limited material resources, poor communication between the sectors, and inadequate capacities at the top levels of the institutions. Similarly, in certain cases, the lack of sectoral policies, medium term expenditure frameworks, reference points and specific targets in the indicators make it difficult to monitor and report on the process

353. Furthermore, the high level of participation in PRS formulation declined during the implementation phase due to difficulties of application of the communication plan. This weakened the PRS ownership process for certain stakeholders.

354. Lastly, the annual PRS implementation reports have not really served as decision-making instruments for the political authorities mainly because of inadequate information and poor analyses which do not guide choices.

(e) Low Capacities for Policy, Programme and Project Monitoring-Evaluation

355. The current monitoring-evaluation mechanism is centred on a hard core represented by the Directorate general of Development Programmes Evaluation (DGEPD) of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MEF), the Studies and programming Departments (DEP), the Sectoral Statistics Departments of the sectoral Ministries and the Project Management Units. In addition to this hard core, there are also other structures which have their own information systems, in particular the Executive Secretariat for the Rural Development Strategy.

356. However, diagnostic studies conducted over the period show that the efforts made to ensure the operation of the monitoring-evaluation mechanism, there are still certain inadequacies, in particular: (i) lack of effective implementation of missions for structures involved in the mechanism, due mainly to inadequate human, material and financial resources; (ii) lack of clarification or ignorance of the roles of each operator due to the absence of a regulatory mechanism defining relations between the different structures; (iii) limited dissemination and use of monitoring-evaluation products; (iv) inadequate impact assessment and evaluation of public policies.

(f) Inadequacies in the Statistical Information System

357. The formulation and monitoring-evaluation of strategies and policies for PRS implementation require a lot of high quality information, better knowledge of the living conditions of the populations and reliable assessment of the results and impacts of policies and the phenomenon of poverty. During PRS implementation, several actions were taken to improve not only the monitoring-evaluation mechanism but also availability of statistical data. These actions led to the reform of the National Statistics System (SSN) with the creation of a National Statistics Institute and sectoral statistics departments, as well as the establishment of a National Statistics Council. This boosted the production and dissemination of statistical information.

358. In spite of this significant progress, weaknesses still exist, especially as a result of: (i) lack of strict programming of statistical activities within the SSN; (ii) limited use of the information in decision-making; (iii) inadequacies in targeting the populations; (iv) low geographical coverage; (v) obsolescence and lack of disaggregated data; (vi) failure to harmonize concepts; (vii) inadequate data analysis; (viii) limited dissemination of information.

359. These problems stem mainly from low institutional, human and material capacities and difficulties in the overall coordination of the mechanism.

(a) Development of high potential and job-creating growth clusters

426. Today, Niger’s economy is based mainly on livestock, agriculture and mining, including uranium. These three sub-sectors account for 40% of GDP and 80% of the country’s exports. It is vulnerable to exogenous shocks (unstable climate and the international market situation), hence the he volatility of Niger’s economic growth. New sources of growth are therefore required to implement an effective poverty reduction policy in a sustainable manner.

427. Niger has great potential in agro-pastoral and natural resources. Its subsoil contains considerable mineral reserves (uranium, petroleum, iron, copper, gold, phosphate, cassiterite, lime stone, gypsum, marble, coal, etc.). it is necessary to develop this potential as soon as possible so as to initiate genuine efforts for strong growth and give a better living conditions to the poor. That is why in 2003 adopted the Rural Development Strategy (SDR) and in 2006 its action plan and MTEF. The SDR, which has three (3) strategic pillars, will be implemented through ten (10) structure programmes and four (4) priority sectoral programmes.

428. In this light, the ADPRS will rapidly conduct a study and form sectoral working groups for the establishment of an Accelerated Growth Strategy based on the development of the highest growth-oriented clusters¹³ which will be considered as part and parcel of the ADPRS. Each cluster group will:

• - identify the strengths and weaknesses of the cluster;

• - conduct strategic diagnosis and analyze the positioning of the cluster;

• - propose a future vision for the cluster;

• - outline strategic pillars and priority actions to be developed in the cluster, as well as a monitoring-evaluation mechanism.

429. The priority clusters will be selected on the basis of a number of criteria including: (i) the long-term progress margin (growth potential); (ii) the potential and the generated added value; (iii) the competitiveness potential; (iv) the export potential; (v) the potential for creating new jobs, particularly for the poor.

430. Already, four priority clusters appear as sources of growth favourable to the poor: the « Rural Development» cluster (Livestock/ byproducts and Agriculture/related products), the « Handicraft » cluster and the «Tourism» cluster. Another high potential cluster is emerging¹⁴: the «Mining» cluster.

The « Rural Development» Cluster

431. In line with the role assigned to the rural sector as the engine of economic growth, Government activities in this area will fall within the Rural Development Strategy (RDS) adopted in 2003 (Decree No. 003-310/PRN/ of November 14 2003.

432. The RDS has the following objectives:

• (i) promote access by the rural population to economic opportunities to create conditions for sustainable economic growth in rural areas;

• (ii) prevent risks, improve food security, and manage natural resources in a sustainable manner so as to improve the living conditions of the population;

• (iii) build the capacities of public institutions and rural organizations so as to improve management of the rural sector.

433. Under the SDR implementation, the lines of priority interventions are as follows:

- Access by rural producers to natural resources, in particular land is secured;

- Products harvested from the natural environment are produced and fishery increased on a sustainable basis;

- Management of water and other natural resources is improved and sustained.

- Conflicts relating to natural resources are reduced;

- Environmental protection practices are adopted by rural producers;

- Water and wind erosion are reduced.

- The silting of infrastructures and water points is contained;

- The biodiversity of wild and domestic species is preserved.

- The populations of animal and plant species are increased.

434. These interventions will be transformed into actions, particularly in the agriculture, livestock and natural resource management sectors.

435. Livestock and byproducts: Niger has already established its position in the sub-region as exporter of products such as life animals. The strategy to be developed will encourage access by rural producers to economic opportunities and create conditions for sustainable economic growth. In this light, the country will position itself in the export of processed products, particularly meat, hides and skins, for which there is potential solvent demand in the sub-region. Nigeria, which imports the bulk of the livestock products processed in Niger, may be an asset. Furthermore, there seems to growing demand in Europe and Asia for hides and skins. Efforts will focus on:

• - the improvement of productivity and animal production;

• - the promotion of modern and intensive stockbreeding;

• - the improvement of water and cattle feed supply, as well as animal health;

• - the promotion of competitive industries for milk, meat, and hides and skins,

• - the development of storage, conservation and export facilities.

436. Agriculture and related products: The choice is based on the need to prevent risks, improve food security and manage natural resources sustainably, so as to obtain sustainable economic growth which will be the linchpin of the strategy. Indeed, a study conducted by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance in Niger ¹⁵ shows that when grows by 1%, GDP grows by more than 1.03%. Similarly, a World Bank study¹⁶ shows that an increase in agricultural productivity (particularly, irrigated food and export crops) by 1% of GDP would have an impact on GDP ranging from 1.9% to 2.6%, thereby helping to reduce poverty in Niger significantly.

437. The priority actions in Agriculture and related products will concern in particular:

• - the development of structures, particularly irrigation infrastructure, including minor irrigation;

• - providing farmers with appropriate technological packages and advisory services;

• - promoting the consolidation of parcels;

• - investment in soil fertility;

• - promotion of food crops (particularly millet, sorghum and vegetable crops), so as to eliminate inertia in cereal production and each year meet all the country’s cereal requirements;

• - diversification of production, targeting niche products for which Niger has a comparative advantage (onion, cowpea, Arabic gum, nut sedge);

• - reduction of post-harvest losses, by reinforcing conservation capacities;

• - processing of agricultural products to give them added value;

• - the protection of biodiversity;

• - the promotion of research and its operational link with education and agricultural extension;

• - control of desertification and environmental degradation;

• - enhancement of management of the sector and organization of the actors;

• - improvement of access to decentralized financial services;

• - better circulation of information on markets.

438. Improvement of natural resource management: In view of environmental degradation which endangers the sustainability of productive bases and sources of income for households, the Government will implement actions to preserve productive capital through significant improvement of the practices of rural producers by establishing and promoting durable farming systems. In addition to the intensification of production system, new forms of resource management will be sought through individual or collective empowerment of the main users, particularly rural producers. Similarly, actions to promote environmental protection will be pursued by expanding classified areas, improving conditions for their management (regulatory aspects, material and human resources, association of riparian populations and integration into the territorial development plans) and reinforcing interventions around and in protected areas to improve the integration of agricultural, pastoral and harvesting activities, with those of the protection of biodiversity and sensitive species.

439. Priority will be given to the establishment of local governance mechanisms for natural resources so as to create conditions conducive to the introduction of sustainable farming methods and restoration of some degraded species; this will concern in particular securing access for the rural population to land resources and preventing conflicts. Sustainable management of water resources requires improvement of knowledge about them and institutional framework of their management.

440. To that end, the regulatory framework provided by the Rural Code will be supplemented, disseminated and implemented throughout the country. As part of decentralization, the role of local authorities in the management of natural resources will be specified and gradually reinforced. In particular, the concessioning of forest resource management to organized local structures will be developed. The integrated management of water resources will be established in the catchment basins. At the sub-regional level, consultation on the management of shared resources will be reinforced (management of shared waters, management of transhumant cattle).

441. The substitution of fuel wood through the promotion of renewable energy, butane gas and mineral coal will be pursued. The control of all types of pollutions will also be pursued, particularly through sensitization, regulations and control. Cases of environmental degradation beyond the management capacities of the affected populations will require appropriate public intervention (control of invading plants, dune fixation, restoration of degraded soils, particularly in catchment basins, reforestation, treatment of koris etc). Efforts will also be made to preserve the biodiversity of wild and domestic species through « in situ » and « ex situ » conservation in threatened areas.

442. Specifically, SDR implementation will promote the programme approach to streamline conditions for public intervention in the sector. The fourteen programmes below are gradual convergence frameworks for interventions through ten (10) structure programmes and four (4) priority sectoral programmes:

• Priority Sectoral Programmes:

1. Local and Community Development Programme

2. Local Natural Resource Governance Programme (land, water, vegetation, wild life) »

3. Professional Organizations and Sector Structures Programme (interprofessional consultation frameworks, strengthening and structuring of professional organizations, marketing of agro-sylvo-pastoral products, capacity building for economic agents and development of the rural economic fabric)

4. Rural Infrastructure Programme (irrigation infrastructures, transport infrastructures, communication infrastructures, rural electrification)

5. Rural Financial Systems Programme

6. Research Training Extension Programme

7. Programme for the Strengthening of public institutions of the rural sector (Restructuring of public institutions of the rural sector, information systems and knowledge of the rural sector)

8. Drinking Water and Sanitation Programme

9. Programme for reducing the vulnerability of households (Prevention and management of crises and natural disasters, Health - nutrition, increase in incomes of the most vulnerable)

10. Environmental Protection Programme

• Priority Sectoral Programmes:

1. Irrigation Development Programme

2. Pastoral Development and Security for Pastoral Systems Programme

3. Land Restoration and Reforestation Programme

4. « Kandadji: Regeneration of ecosystems and development of the Niger River Valley » Programme

443. Furthermore, since Niger’s economy greatly depends on agricultural and pastoral productions (greatly dependent on climatic factors), mainstreaming of weather and climatic information into sustainable socioeconomic development and disaster prevention activities is of special importance. To that end, the Government undertakes to: (i) reinforce the weather observation and surveillance networks, (ii) improve the collection, processing, and archiving of weather and climatic data, (iii) make weather and climatic products available to the users, (iv) rehabilitate equipment (weather radars in Niamey and Zinder).

444. Handicraft Cluster: Handicraft provides many jobs. According to the RGP/H 2001 results, there are nearly 367,000 micro and small handicraft enterprises (MPEA), in more than 115 activities employing more than 600 000 persons. The proportion of women handicraft is 52%. They are engaged in weaving, pottery, exploitation of gypsum, basket making and processing. The promotion of small-scale mining (gold washing, salt works, and gypsum) is a priority for Niger. The same applies to small-scale fishery, whose potential is under-exploited today. A national handicraft development strategy will be established around the following priorities:

• - Capacity building for operators in organization, technical skills, management and innovation;

• - Modernization of equipment and working tools for craftsmen;

• - Establishment of new financial instruments for the handicraft sector;

• - Adaptation of the tax system and social coverage to the specificities of the sector;

• - Strengthening and modernization and handicraft areas and parks;

• - Development and promotion of handicraft products on the markets.

445. Tourism Cluster; A National Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy (NSDST), together with a five-year operational action plan, is currently being prepared. Its implementation pillars will concern: (i) identification and development of new tourism sites; (ii) training and improvement of the quality of service; (iii) promotion and marketing; (iv) institutional support; and (v) development of local activities

446. The Mining Cluster; With the explosion of the spot price of Uranium since 2004, deposits considered as marginal a few years, will be exploited in a profitable manner. Under these conditions, uranium export forecasts for Niger should increase as from 2009 (4,703 tonnes) to 8,843 tonnes in 2012, as against 3,600 tonnes in 2007. Niger will try to gradually develop the local processing of the product so as to increase the added value of the « uranium » cluster. Efforts to protect the environment and control health risks in uranium exploitation will be pursued.

447. Similarly, Niger has embarked on promoting its petroleum potential by attracting several partners in exploration. To that end, three boreholes started in 2003 and others should follow in coming months. Petroleum production will start in 2009-2010. it will open new prospects for growth for the country. Special attention will be paid to the good use of petroleum resources, drawing on best practices at the international level.

448. Furthermore, small scale mining (gold, tin, gypsum, salt…) in several regions of the country employs thousands of people and give them significant incomes. That is why the Government will try to improve and sustain this activity by: (i) organizing the small scale mining sub-sector (EMPE), (ii) providing support to EMPE developers, (iii) eliminating the worst forms of child labour in the sector, (iv) protecting the mining environment, (v) improving the health status of EMPE developer, and (vi) controlling marketing.

(b) Promotion of regional development poles:

449. Taking regional specificities into account is a priority for the ADPRS. This has the advantage of reinforcing the localization of national and international development objectives. In particular, the implementation of the Rural Development Strategy (SDR) at the regional and local level is consistent with the guidelines defined in the national territorial development policy and in the national local and community development policy which, both aim at minimizing regional and intra-regional imbalances, controlling rural exodus, promoting the rational exploitation of natural resources and better developing regional potentials. Accordingly, each of the eight (8) regions prepared a document during the revision of the PRS.

450. Regional development poles will emerge according to economic opportunities, especially agro-sylvo-pastoral potentials, as well as mining, handicraft, tourism and cultural resources. (See Table 21).

Table 20.

Regional Potentials and Priority Areas of Intervention

Source: Contributions by the regions to PRS revision

Table 20.

Regional Potentials and Priority Areas of Intervention

Regions	Potentials	Potential Comparative Advantages
Agadez	Onion, garlic, potatoes, date, grape, citrus fruit, salt, cattle, uranium, coal, petroleum, handicraft and tourism	Mining, Irrigation, Export of cattle, Handicraft and tourism
Diffa	Onion, Arabic gum, pepper, fish, rice, maize, sorghum, petroleum, cattle, natron, date, handicraft and tourism	Irrigation, fisheries, cattle, handcraft and tourism
Dosso	Fish, rice, maize, groundnut, sugar cane, sesame, Arabic gum, cotton, small ruminant and poultry, handicraft and tourism	Irrigation, Cotton, groundnut, maize, sesame fisheries, poultry, handicraft and tourism
Maradi	Groundnut, cotton, sedge, sesame, Arabic gum byproducts, tobacco, small ruminant, iron	Irrigation, groundnut, sedge, cotton, sesame Export of small ruminant, handicraft and tourism
Tahoua	Onion, cotton, fish, cattle, Arabic gum, phosphate, gypsum, limestone, coal, handicraft and tourism	Irrigation (onion,) Cotton, Export of cattle, Mining, handicraft and tourism
Tillabéri	Arabic gum, rice, fish, sugar cane, sedge, cattle, iron, gold, phosphate, coal, handicraft and tourism, hydroelectricity	Irrigation (sugar cane, rice) and hydro-electricity, sedge, fisheries, bee farming, Mining, handicraft and tourism
Zinder	Groundnut, sugar cane, Arabic gum, cattle, gold, handcraft and tourism	Irrigation (sugar cane), groundnut, bee farming, export of cattle, mining, handicraft and tourism
Niamey Urban Community	Arabic gum, rice, fish, small ruminant, poultry,	Irrigation, fisheries, poultry, handicraft and tourism

Source: Contributions by the regions to PRS revision

View Table

Table 20.

Regional Potentials and Priority Areas of Intervention

Regions	Potentials	Potential Comparative Advantages
Agadez	Onion, garlic, potatoes, date, grape, citrus fruit, salt, cattle, uranium, coal, petroleum, handicraft and tourism	Mining, Irrigation, Export of cattle, Handicraft and tourism
Diffa	Onion, Arabic gum, pepper, fish, rice, maize, sorghum, petroleum, cattle, natron, date, handicraft and tourism	Irrigation, fisheries, cattle, handcraft and tourism
Dosso	Fish, rice, maize, groundnut, sugar cane, sesame, Arabic gum, cotton, small ruminant and poultry, handicraft and tourism	Irrigation, Cotton, groundnut, maize, sesame fisheries, poultry, handicraft and tourism
Maradi	Groundnut, cotton, sedge, sesame, Arabic gum byproducts, tobacco, small ruminant, iron	Irrigation, groundnut, sedge, cotton, sesame Export of small ruminant, handicraft and tourism
Tahoua	Onion, cotton, fish, cattle, Arabic gum, phosphate, gypsum, limestone, coal, handicraft and tourism	Irrigation (onion,) Cotton, Export of cattle, Mining, handicraft and tourism
Tillabéri	Arabic gum, rice, fish, sugar cane, sedge, cattle, iron, gold, phosphate, coal, handicraft and tourism, hydroelectricity	Irrigation (sugar cane, rice) and hydro-electricity, sedge, fisheries, bee farming, Mining, handicraft and tourism
Zinder	Groundnut, sugar cane, Arabic gum, cattle, gold, handcraft and tourism	Irrigation (sugar cane), groundnut, bee farming, export of cattle, mining, handicraft and tourism
Niamey Urban Community	Arabic gum, rice, fish, small ruminant, poultry,	Irrigation, fisheries, poultry, handicraft and tourism

Source: Contributions by the regions to PRS revision

Table 21.

Summary of the Different Growth Scenarios – Total cost in millions of CFAF for the period 2008 – 2012

Source: Work of the thematic group on the “Macroeconomic Framework” and the “MDG quantification” team - PRS review, March 2007

Table 21.

Summary of the Different Growth Scenarios – Total cost in millions of CFAF for the period 2008 – 2012

	Basic scenario (Niger LDC)		Intermediate (Niger DC)		MDG/PAP scenario (Niger scenario Emerging)
	Amount	%	Amount	%	Amount	%
Education	458 126.8	15.3	663 872.7	19.9	1 107 798.2	19.9
• Basic education	343 159.1	11.5	376 821.2	11.3	628 798.0	11.3
Healthcare	233 423.9	7.8	425 736.3	12.8	710 422.3	12.8
Rural development	416 208.4	13.9	308 008.2	9.3	513 970.4	9.3
Infrastructure	169 634.9	5.7	452 675.2	13.6	755 374.9	13.6
Mines and energy	31 816.9	1.1	41 784.3	1.3	69 725.1	1.3
Other poverty reduction sectors19	85 588.1	2.9	529 082.3	15.9	882 874.9	15.9
Total poverty reduction expenditure	1 394 799.0	46.6	2 421 159.0	72.7	4 040 165.9	72.7
Investment expenditure	526 575.5	17.6	517 910.7	15.6	569 485.1	10.3
Current expenditure	868 223.5	29.0	1 903 248.2	57.2	3 470 680.8	62.5
Other sectors	1 596 084.1	53.4	529 082.3	15.9	1 515 733.2	27.3
TOTAL	2 990 883.1	100	3 329 495.7	100	5 555 899.1	100
CURRENT EXPENDITURE	1 319 350.4	44.1	1 612 033.6	48.4	1 362 259.9	24.5
INVESTMENT EXPENDITURE	1 671 532.7	55.9	1 717 462.1	51.6	4 193 639.2	75.5

Source: Work of the thematic group on the “Macroeconomic Framework” and the “MDG quantification” team - PRS review, March 2007

View Table

Table 21.

Summary of the Different Growth Scenarios – Total cost in millions of CFAF for the period 2008 – 2012

	Basic scenario (Niger LDC)		Intermediate (Niger DC)		MDG/PAP scenario (Niger scenario Emerging)
	Amount	%	Amount	%	Amount	%
Education	458 126.8	15.3	663 872.7	19.9	1 107 798.2	19.9
• Basic education	343 159.1	11.5	376 821.2	11.3	628 798.0	11.3
Healthcare	233 423.9	7.8	425 736.3	12.8	710 422.3	12.8
Rural development	416 208.4	13.9	308 008.2	9.3	513 970.4	9.3
Infrastructure	169 634.9	5.7	452 675.2	13.6	755 374.9	13.6
Mines and energy	31 816.9	1.1	41 784.3	1.3	69 725.1	1.3
Other poverty reduction sectors19	85 588.1	2.9	529 082.3	15.9	882 874.9	15.9
Total poverty reduction expenditure	1 394 799.0	46.6	2 421 159.0	72.7	4 040 165.9	72.7
Investment expenditure	526 575.5	17.6	517 910.7	15.6	569 485.1	10.3
Current expenditure	868 223.5	29.0	1 903 248.2	57.2	3 470 680.8	62.5
Other sectors	1 596 084.1	53.4	529 082.3	15.9	1 515 733.2	27.3
TOTAL	2 990 883.1	100	3 329 495.7	100	5 555 899.1	100
CURRENT EXPENDITURE	1 319 350.4	44.1	1 612 033.6	48.4	1 362 259.9	24.5
INVESTMENT EXPENDITURE	1 671 532.7	55.9	1 717 462.1	51.6	4 193 639.2	75.5

Source: Work of the thematic group on the “Macroeconomic Framework” and the “MDG quantification” team - PRS review, March 2007