The World Bank on Friday approved an interim country assistance strategy for Ethiopia, emphasizing better governance and growth.

The strategy includes an immediate program to preserve the delivery of basic services to the population through grants to local governments.

The bank said in a statement that the interim strategy, which covers the next 14 months, carries clear expectations for performance at the country level.

According to the bank, in recent years, Ethiopia has posted a comparatively strong growth performance and increased the portion of the national budget dedicated to poverty-reduction spending.

Though starting from a low base, the country had begun to show progress toward achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs, adopted in the millennium UN summit, include a series of concrete objectives in fighting poverty, reducing hunger, expanding primary education, and containing the spread of HIV/AIDS, among others.

The statement said the bank would assess Ethiopia's progress on strengthening governance, and added that if there are measurable improvements, it would prepare a full three-year strategy envisioning enhanced levels of assistance.

The bank said a major component of the plan is a 215-million-U. S.-dollar Protection of Basic Services to support local governments in providing the population essential services, while strengthening measures to ensure transparency and local accountability in the delivery of those services.

"Our agreements with the government spell out some very specific results in the next 14 months. We are committing to lower infant mortality to 115 per thousand from the current 127," the statement quoted WB Country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan, Ishac Diwan, as saying.

"For young children living in malaria-affected areas, we are looking to make bed-nets available for 60 percent, up from 25 percent today," Diwan said, adding that the bank also aims to scale up key childhood vaccinations coverage from 40 to 60 percent.

The plan calls for an expansion of access to electricity among Ethiopia's rural population, irrigation programs to strengthen farm productivity, while a private sector program would support high-growth corridors as a means of bolstering Ethiopian enterprise, it said.

According to the statement, funding for roads and capacity- building in financial services and agriculture are also included in the first year of the interim strategy.

It said the bank would also continue to address the significant infrastructure gap that holds back economic growth in much of the country during the second year.

The statement said other resources would support safety-nets for food insecure households, the fight against HIV/AIDS and urban housing.

Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries and its development efforts have to rely on massive foreign aid.

Source: Xinhua