Decision on the Structure of the Budget and Modality of Funding

DECISION ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE BUDGET
AND MODALITY OF FUNDING
DOC. EX.CL/246 (IX)

The Executive Council:

1. TAKES NOTE of the report;

2. DECIDES that the funding of the Budget shall be as follows:

1. Staff costs, operating expenses, statutory meetings and selected top priority programmes/projects shall be assessed on Member States;

2. The remaining programme cost shall be financed through donors contributions.

3 ALSO DECIDES as follows;

1. The Union shall have one integrated budget;

2. The Assembly shall determine the budget ceiling for the budget in accordance with the following principles:

1. When preparing the budget, the Commission should present the status of contributions received from Member States;

2. In no case should any change in the structure of the budget entail a budgetary increase that could affect the contributing capacity of Member States;

3. The formula of the integrated budget should not be considered as the mechanical merger of the two parts of the budget (operating cost and programme budget);

4. The principle of ownership and opening up to partners should be taken into consideration during the preparation of the budget;

5. The principle of reinforcing sanctions against defaulting Member States will be further studied after the Banjul Summit;

6. Member States should actively contribute to the funding of projects and programmes;

7. The budget ceiling will be determined according to objective economic parameters such as average GDP growth rates in Member countries, inflation, etc.;

8. The Scale of Assessment adopted in Sirte, Libya in July 2005 makes it possible to take into account the ability of Member States to pay.

4. ENCOURAGES Partners/Donors of the Union to work jointly with the Commission towards realization of budgetary support.