The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA), in collaboration with the World Bank recently organised a two-day consultative workshop on the Poverty Assessment Survey Report and the Public Service Reform Programme, held at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in Banjul.

The objectives of the workshop were to discuss the way-forward in addressing poverty related issues in the Gambia, budget support, the groundnut sub-sector, as well as strengthening institutional capacity in the public sector, improving the conditions of service and creating a public private partnership in the sprit of Public Service Reform agenda.

In his opening statement, Abdou Touray, the Director-General of the National Planning Commission stated that the purpose of the budget support was to assist the government of the Gambia in implementing its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), with the ultimate goal of reducing poverty.

“The budget is the main tool for expression and delivery of the government’s political, economic and social goals and the central tool used to reach its development objectives as spelled out in the PRSP,” he said.

The whole purpose, he added, was to have a reference point to ensure that the country is performing well in maintaining macro-economic stability and effective public resource management and promotion of pro-poor growth and employment in productive sectors.

He added that another dimension of this seminar is on consultation on the Gambia’s latest poverty assessment report- May 2009, which he said, provides valuable analysis on the status, trends, nature and varied dimensions of poverty in the country.

“The report outlined useful findings to measuring our achievements in the national battle against poverty, facilitate planning and target setting”, Mr. Touray stated.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Mod A.K. Secka, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA), stated that “the seminar is an opportunity to critically reflect on the reforms we continue to undertake as a government, with the intention of creating appropriate frameworks and strengthening our institutions for our socio-economic development as a country”. He commended the visiting teams of donor -partners namely, the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB).