Mauritania, March, 02 2007 - Mauritania will benefit from the support of the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group which, on Friday in Tunis, approved a loan of 5.98 million Units of Account (UC*), equivalent to US$ 8.9 million to finance a capacity building project for microfinance operators (PRECAMF) in the country.

The objective of the project is to build the capacity of stakeholders with respect to the supply and demand of microfinance services, with a view to improving access to sustainable financial microfinance services for poor workers in order to reduce poverty.

To attain the objective, the project, which will be implemented over a five-year period, comprises the following three components: * Improving microfinance supply services; * Improving demand for financial services; * Project management.

The project beneficiaries are classified in two categories: final beneficiaries and intermediate beneficiaries. Final beneficiaries are poor people involved in income-generating activities and micro- and small enterprises, with special emphasis on women and youths in rural areas, whose income may increase through financial support (loans, savings and other financial services such as insurance) and non financial support (sensitization, training, coaching), that they will receive from the project in order to make their income- generating activities as well as micro and small enterprises profitable.

The project is part of the action plan for Mauritania's 2006-2010 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). It identifies microfinance as an essential instrument for poverty reduction and as a means of reducing the proportion of Mauritanians living below the poverty line from 46.7% in 2004 to 35% in 2010 and 25% in 2015.

The total project cost is estimated at UA 7.97 million. The ADF loan will finance 75.03% of total project cost. The Mauritanian government will contribute the remaining UA 1.99 million or 24.97 of the overall project cost.

The AfDB Group operations in Mauritania started in 1972. To date, its commitments in the country stand at US$ 493.37 million in 56 operations.