Where's the Money?

• Pages: 164

Page 164

At the 2005 Gleneagles summit, the Group of Eight (G8) leaders promised to double aid to sub-Saharan Africa by 2010. Two years later, there is little sign that the promise is translating into increases in overall aid to most sub-Saharan countries. Excluding debt relief, aid to sub-Saharan Africa from the world's major donors-grouped in the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC)-was static in 2006, leaving a challenge to meet the Gleneagles commitment.

Aid to all countries (including middleincome recipients) declined, in constant 2005 dollars, to $103.9 billion in net aid in 2006, down 5.1 percent from 2005 (see chart). This figure includes $19.2 billion of debt relief, notably exceptional relief to Iraq and Nigeria. Excluding debt relief grants-which were at a record high in 2005 as a result of the first phases of several large Paris Club debt relief operations-net aid fell by 1.8 percent in 2006, according to preliminary data published by the OECD (the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).

On balance, according to the World Bank's Global Monitoring Report 2007, there is "scant evidence of any substantial scaling up of aid on the horizon."

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However, the overall picture may not be so bleak. Although, in real terms, the decline in official development assistance in 2006 was the first reduction since 1997, aid levels were still the highest recorded, with the exception of 2005 (see chart).

In addition, although aid...