BAMAKO: Mali will boost spending in its 2016 budget by 4 percent, partly to cover implementation of a peace agreement with armed groups in the country's north, the finance minister said on Tuesday.
The budget approved in December set spending at 2.002 trillion CFA francs ($3.51 billion) with expected revenues of 1.828 trillion francs.
Spending would rise by a further 81 billion francs to "take into account some of our engagements," Boubou Cisse said on state-owned radio.
The extra money would also help meet the costs of local elections due to be held later this year, he said.
The government signed the peace deal, agreed with an alliance of Tuareg-led rebels, in June. It was intended to draw a line under a 2012 uprising and allow authorities to focus on resolving a separate conflict with Islamist militants in the same thinly populated northern desert region.
The deal calls for the government to establish an investment fund to spur durable development to address rebel grievance that the state has for decades neglected the impoverished region.
The budget increase is expected to be approved by parliament without difficulty.
Reuters
