The African Development Bank (ADB) has decided to provide Mozambique with an financial aid of about 258.1 million U.S. dollars for the period 2006 to 2009, according to a report reaching here from Maputo on Thursday.

The Mozambican Planning and Development Ministry said in a press release that this is a concessional loan, and was negotiated taking into account the main features of the second phase of the government Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty.

This amount is described as the largest sum ever granted to Mozambique under the African Development Fund (ADF).

The press release said that this money is to be used to support the government's five year (2005-2009) plan, with priority to the areas of infrastructures and direct support to the state budget.

The ADB has described the document presented by Mozambique as " a model that ADB will use in designing other financing strategies. "

Source: Xinhua