Brazil to revamp Amazon Fund after finding irregularities -minister
Source: Reuters
WORLD NEWS MAY 17, 2019 / 2:03 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Brazil to revamp Amazon Fund after finding irregularities -minister
Lais Martins
3 MIN READ
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil will overhaul rules for selecting projects to reduce deforestation supported by the Amazon Fund, which is financed by Norway and Germany, after discovering irregularities in spending, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said on Friday.
Salles said non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had failed to account for the way they use money disbursed to them from the $1.28 billion fund administered by Brazilian state development bank BNDES.
Salles, a climate change skeptic, told reporters he and BNDES had agreed that the governance and rules for awards must be changed to better direct spending.
Salles said 82% of the awards that the ministry had inspected were granted without a bidding process and that he was recommending no new funding of projects for now.
The Norwegian embassy said it had neither received nor agreed to any proposal to change the management of the fund or the criteria for allocating resources.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-amazon/brazil-to-revamp-amazon-fund-after-finding-irregularities-minister-idUSKCN1SN2BZ
