Addis Ababa, Dec. 3(ENA)--The member states of the European Union (EU) on November 28 agreed on the funding of 9 million Euros for the Integrated Financial Mangement System (IFMS), which fits in the Ethiopian government's Civil Service Reform Program geared towards improving the quality and efficiency of the administration.

The purpose of the IFMS is to improve the quality and the speed of information on the Ethiopian government's financial transactions, a press release sent to ENA on Monday from the Delegation of the European Commission to Ethiopia said.

"This will promote the control and management of public funds, (which) will in turn allow for a more effective prioritization of scarce resources leading to a more efficient untilization of funds," according to the release.

Describing the IFMS as an ambitious one, the release said, " it will set up a computerized system, which will integrate existing financial management systems (and) will also make use of modern information technology and telecommunication systems to facilitate the production and delivery of financial data to decision makers."

The program funded by the European Commission is a pilot, it said, adding five pilot institutions at the federal level have been selected.

"When the system is successfully implemented in these pilot institutions, it will be rolled out to other federal bodies, (and) a further roll-out to the regions is expected in five to six years," it indicated.

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