EU approves EUR 230m aid for developing countries
(BRUSSELS) - The European Union approved Tuesday 230 million euros (335 million dollars) in aid for 13 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to help them confront the economic crisis.
The funds include 215 million euros from the so-called Vulnerability FLEX mechanism -- a 500 million euro fund adopted in August to help ACP nations deal with the impact of the crisis.
"Developing countries were hit hard by the crisis due to their poor resilience to external shocks," EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement.
He said the new mechanism is the EU's "swift response to help countries maintain priority spending, thereby assisting the worst affected countries to reduce the social costs of this crisis."
The nations receiving V-FLEX aid are Benin (25 million euros), Burundi (13.6 million), the Central African Republic (7.6 million), the Comoros (4.7 million), Ghana (35 million), Grenada (five million), Guinea Bissau (eight million), Haiti (30 million), Malawi (25 million), Mauritius (10.9 million), Seychelles (nine million), Sierra Leone (12 million) and Zambia (30 million).