The budget will be wholly funded by taxes as western donors have withheld direct budgetary support to the Horn of Africa country in protest over a government crackdown on opposition supporters.

Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers has forwarded a 43.9 billion birr ($4.9 billion) budget to parliament for 2007/08, 20 percent bigger than the previous year’s, a state-run news agency reported on Thursday.

It includes 10.818 billion birr for current spending and over 18.868 billion birr for capital expenditure, the Ethiopian News Agency said.

“The government has given the highest priorities for spending on the economic sector, developing infrastructure such as roads as well as in the social sectors, mainly to enhance health and education in the country,” a finance ministry official told Reuters.

The budget will be wholly funded by taxes as western donors have withheld direct budgetary support to the Horn of Africa country in protest over a government crackdown on opposition supporters following a controversial election in 2005.

Aid is instead channeled through a new mechanism known as Protection of Basic Services Programme (PBS) to help essential services in education, health and water.

Source: eitb24