91Èȱ¬

91Èȱ¬ World Service has announced that it will be closing five language services – Albanian, Macedonian, Portuguese for Africa and Serbian; as well as the English for the Caribbean regional service.

This is part of its response to a cut to its Grant-in-Aid funding from the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The cut is part of a 91Èȱ¬ World Service restructure in order to meet a 16% savings target announced in the Government's Spending Review of 20 October last year.

91Èȱ¬ Global News Director Peter Horrocks said: "These closures are not a reflection on the performance of individual services or programmes. They are all extremely important to their audiences and to the 91Èȱ¬.

"It is simply that there is a need to make savings due to the scale of the cuts to the World Service's Grant-in-Aid funding from the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office and we need to focus our efforts in the languages where there is the greatest need and where we have the strongest impact."

Notes to Editors

91Èȱ¬ World Service will not be confirming further details tonight ahead of briefing staff tomorrow. However, further information will be confirmed tomorrow at a press conference.

91Èȱ¬ World Service Press Office