BBC's Hindi and Arabic services saved

The BBC World Service is to receive an extra £2.2 million (US$3.5 million) per year over the next three years from the British government.

The funding boost will be used to maintain BBC Arabic Service's "valuable work in the region", Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

In a written statement to members of parliament, Mr Hague said  it was the subsequent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa that led the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office to grant an extra £2.2 million (US$3.5 million) a year to the BBC's Arabic Service.

The BBC will also reallocate an additional £9 million (US$14.4 million) to safeguard the Hindi language short wave service.

This comes after the British government cut 16 percent of the World Service's £270 million ($431.65 million) budget as part of last year's spending review.

Earlier this month, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten told the Sunday Telegraph he would lobby the government over its funding of the World Service, which will end in 2014 and be taken over by the BBC.

He said the Arabic, Hindi and Somali services are "core" to the broadcasting operation.

The BBC Trust welcomed the government's announcement, adding the reallocation of £9 million (US$14.4 million) over three years would "mitigate the impact of recent funding cuts".

Lord Patten said: "The additional money will help protect BBC services in the areas where they are most valued and needed".

(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)