UN announces Timor budget

UN announces Timor budget

Dili (DPA): The United Nations announced Friday details of a 59.2-million-dollar budget for East Timor for the current financial year with priority for health, education and infrastructure repairs.

The head of the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) finance department, Fernanda Borges, said US$14.45 million would be spent on salaries for a new 9,000-strong civil service.

After weeks of often heated debate, the budget was approved Thursday by the National Consultative Council (NCC), East Timor's defacto parliament.

The 15-member NCC comprises 11 East Timorese and three U.N. officials and is chaired by UNTAET chief, Sergio Vieira de Melo.

Borges said funding for the budget would be drawn from the U.N. and World Bank Trust Funds for East Timor, although final approval would be required at an international donors meeting in Lisbon on June 21.