Poverty Reduction Support Credit (9)

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The Ninth Poverty Reduction Support Credit Program for Burkina Faso operation aims to support the authorities' efforts to cope with the impact of the global economic downturn on the Burkinabe economy through the cotton sector and maintain the momentum of reforms to achieve critical developmental objectives of the PRSP-11. The global crisis is affecting negatively Burkina's growth, threatens the outturn of the coming cotton campaign and risks to reverse the progress the country has made in poverty reduction It is in this challenging context that the operation aims to support a core set of critical actions to: (i) improve the investment climate and promote exports, with a particular focus on actions to save the coming cotton campaign and carry out longer-term reforms to improve the sector's overall competitiveness; (ii) protect access to quality basic services through deepened decentralization; and (iii) maximize the effectiveness of limited fiscal resources available by promoting efficiency, transparency and accountability in the use of public resources through enhanced public financial management. The Ninth Poverty Reduction Support Grant (PRSG-9) will also support export diversification beyond cotton by facilitating trade and small and medium-enterprise investment. In addition, PRSG-9 will support efforts to protect access to quality basic services by further transferring responsibilities and resources to urban municipalities in the education sector and to rural municipalities in the water and sanitation sector, while supporting economic activities and services in urban municipalities. Lastly, PRSG-9 will help increase public spending effectiveness by improving budget transparency, oversight and accountability, including through support for the establishment of the High Authority for State Oversight (ASCE).