President George W. Bush sent the draft budget to Congress on Monday for adoption. The fiscal year 2006 starts in October.
The aid to the private sector will focus on promoting key sectors, such as agriculture, in order to increase employment and reduce differences in revenues between urban centres and less developed or war-devastated areas of Croatia.
The aid intended for strengthening democracy will focus on ensuring the increased participation of citizens in local government, promoting decentralisation and training for transparent financial management.
The year 2006 will be the last year for Croatia to receive aid from the SEED programme. The aid will be discontinued because the US estimates that Croatia has made sufficient progress in political and economic reforms and that the aid, intended for transition countries, will no longer be necessary.
For the past few years the US has been gradually reducing aid to Croatia in accordance with the progress the country has made in strengthening democracy and the economy. The US provided nearly 25 million dollars in aid in 2004, while in 2005 the aid was reduced to 20 million.
In the 2006 draft budget, President Bush asked for 382 million dollars for the SEED programme, which covers Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro.