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EU plans 230M euro aid for Africa and Caribbean

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-15 22:30
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BRUSSELS: The European Union's executive approved 230 million euros ($334.4 million) in aid to African and Caribbean countries on Tuesday to cushion their social protection budgets depleted by the global financial crisis.

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The funds are part of a 500 million euro ($727 million) aid plan agreed by the EU in August to address social costs of global woes in Africa and Caribbean and Pacific states.

"Developing countries were hit hard by the crisis due to their poor resilience to external shocks. This has left funding gaps in many ... governments' budgets," EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Karel de Gucht said in a statement.

The countries due to receive the aid approved on Tuesday, which will go into state budgets, are: Benin, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Comoros, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Malawi, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone and Zambia.
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