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The miserly rich
01/2005
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[ Oxfam ]
The miserly rich
Compared to their income, rich countries give only half as much foreign aid today as they did in the 1960s. Forty years ago the advanced nations spent 0.48 percent of their gross national product on aid, today it is a “measly” 0.24 percent. This is claimed by the British aid organisation Oxfam in a report presented in early December. The aim of the report is to pressure the British government into placing poverty eradication at the top of its agenda when it takes up the presidency of the G8 in 2005. At present the rich countries are spending a mere 80 dollars per head of their population on development aid – the equivalent of just one cup of coffee a week. If they increased their contributions to 0.7 percent of gross national product, this would still only equate to one fifth of their arms expenditure. Oxfam also asserts that the poor countries are still paying more in debt repayments than they are receiving in new aid. It is the moral obligation of the rich to make more finance available and to release the poor from their burden of debt.
Development aid does work, says the report, and a lot has been achieved in the past. But the problem remains that many donors use their aid to pursue their own political goals. Moreover, sixteen of the 22 largest donors still are tying foreign aid to their own economic interests. As a condition of providing funds, they are demanding that the receiver countries spend it on purchasing goods and services from the donor countries. Oxfam says that if these serious shortcomings were rectified and donor harmonisation improved, then we also would see a marked improvement in the effectiveness of aid initiatives. Of course, the governments of the poor countries too must be serious about fighting poverty. (ell)
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