New aid figures reveal reality of broken promises

Aid from the world’s richest countries fell from 0.31% of GNI to 0.28% between 2006 and 2007, according to OECD figures out today - bad news for the 1 billion people, mostly women and girls, who survive on less than 50p a day.

On these trends most G8 and EU countries will dramatically fail to meet their commitments to increase aid by 2010.  In recent years, one-off debt relief deals have disguised the fact that underlying aid levels have not increased. Now major debt cancellation deals are over, and debt relief is no longer a major part of the aid figures, the real aid numbers are revealed.

Jesse Griffiths, policy officer at ActionAid said: "ActionAid has consistently said that counting debt relief as aid misleads the public. Worse still it has allowed governments to artificially inflate numbers without putting their hands in their pockets to provide more real aid for the world’s poorest people. Sadly, today's figures prove us right.

"This constant failure by rich countries to meet their commitments to the poor must end.  It’s time for them to set and stick to yearly targets to increase aid, which must be independently monitored."   

He continued: "Improving the quality of aid is also a serious issue that must be addressed by world governments - the current situation where 50% of aid is gobbled up by costly consultants, research and training is not acceptable."

Whilst the UK appears to have significantly cut aid in 2007 in reality its underlying aid levels have decreased by 2% if you strip out debt relief from the figures. Although the UK government committed to further increases in last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review, their leadership role has been damaged by these figures.  They must renew their momentum and concentrate on improving the quality of their aid.