Decision on the Budget of the African Union for the 2016 Financial Year

DECISION ON THE BUDGET OF THE AFRICAN UNION
FOR THE 2016 FINANCIAL YEAR

Doc. EX.CL/898(XXVII)

The Executive Council,

1. TAKES NOTE of the report of the PRC and ENDORSES the recommendations contained therein;

2. APPROVES a total budget of US$416,867,326 for the African Union for year 2016, broken down into US$150,503,875 Operating Budget and US$266,363,451 Programs and recommends it to the Assembly for adoption.

3. ALSO APPROVES source of financing of the budget as follows:

i) A total amount of US$169,833,340 is assessed on Member States, and

ii) A total amount of US$247,033,986 is secured from International Partners;

4. FURTHER APPROVES the budget breakdown among AU Organs as follows:

5. AUTHORIZES the Commission to continue to solicit additional funds from Partners for Programs of the Union amounting to US$70,552,314 till the end of 2015 and to report back on the status to the PRC before the January 2016 Summit;

6. EMPHASIZES the need for ownership of AU Programmes by Member States through an effective demonstration of political will and by honoring their financial commitments to the organization, in particular the Flagship Projects featuring in the 10 Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063 and to minimize dependency on External Funding;

7. REQUESTS the Commission:

i) to take the necessary measures to improve on the Execution rate of the budget against available funds;

ii) to strengthen the internal control processes with a view to ensuring a judicious utilization of the resources put at the disposal of the organization;

iii) in collaboration with the PRC to undertake a study of the sanction regime on contribution, to make it effective and efficient and to make appropriate recommendations to the Policy Organs;

iv) to continue improving the budgetary processes;

8. EMPHASIZES the need to pay special attention to the allocation of funds for issues of Peace and Security taking into consideration the decision for Member States to provide 25% of the Budget for Peace and Security;

9. APPROVES 2% of AMISOM budget for 2016 to be supported by voluntary contributions from Member States;

10. DECIDES to implement the decision of the Assembly (Assembly/AU/Dec.561(XXIV)) on Alternative Sources of Funding where Member States enhance ownership of the budget of the Union by financing 100% of the Operating budget, 75% of Programs and 25% of Peace and Security Budget effective January 2016 to be phased incrementally over a five-year period, and based on non-exclusive options at the national, regional and continental levels;

11. DECIDES to increase by 2% to reach the target of 1% and 12% for Women Fund and Peace Fund respectively.