CHAPTER IV SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The present chapter assesses progress achieved in the thematic area of socioeconomic development as to verify up to what extent such progress have contributed to the improvement of living conditions and quality of life of the population. The following objectives are an integral part of this thematic area: To promote self self-reliance in development and build capacities for sustainable development; To accelerate socioeconomic development to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication; To Strengthen policies, delivery mechanisms and outcomes in key social development areas, including providing education and combating HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases; To ensure access to water, sanitation, electricity, finance, information and communication technologies, housing and land to all citizens in particular the poor population; To make progress towards gender equality in all critical areas of concern, including access to education for all girls at all levels; To encourage broad-based participation in Development by all stakeholders at all levels. Objective 1: To promote self-reliance in development and build capacities for sustainable development The APR Panel recommended Mozambique to: (i) explore, with immediate effect, ways and means to gradually reduce dependence of the country on external aid by introducing harmonized step down strategy; (ii) strengthen the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in order to strengthen ownership by the country of all development policies and external aid activities. 259. With regards to the APR Panel´s recommendation to gradually reduce dependence of the country on external aid, the government´s efforts are concentrated in fiscal reform which will make it possible the widen tax basis and collection of more taxes aimed at reducing dependence on external aid and create conditions for more intervention and social responsibility of the Government towards the poor people. 260. During State Budget submission in 2012, the Government assured that only 39.6% of public expenditures will be covered by external donations and loans, thus the remaining 60, 4% will be covered by domestic resources. In previous year´s State Budget, 44.6% of expenditures were covered by external aid and in the 2010 it covered 51.4%. Therefore, it can be understood that there are encouraging signals that indicate that there is a gradual reduction of dependence on foreign aid mainly due to the fact that there is a greater confidence in domestic resources mobilization which was not the case in previous years. Notwithstanding this effort, the country is faced with a challenge of production, consumption and export of goods and services produced in Mozambique in order to increase the balance of payments and reduce dependence on external aid and thus review the terms and conditions agreed with each 87