Government urged to increase aid budget

Wednesday, 2 June 2004 12:00 AM

The Government has been urged to dramatically increase its overseas aid budget.

Over 180 MPs and all of the major UK aid organisations are calling for a deadline to be set for aid levels to reach 0.7 of Gross National Income (GNI).

On Wednesday, in an open letter in The Times a coalition of charities and high profile arts figures, have joined the campaign.

The target of 0.7 per cent of GNI was adopted as an ideal by the United Nations in the 1970s.

The open letter, addressed to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, is signed by figures such as Sir Bob Geldof, Jude Law, Bono, Body Shop founder Anita Roddick and poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

The group call for an "historic drive to tackle global poverty" citing statistics warning that 100 million children have no access to primary school and that 6,400 people in Africa die every day of AIDS.

Figures taken from the OECD show that the United Kingdom is currently eleventh in the world in terms of its proportion of GNI given in aid at 0.34 per cent.

Only five countries, including Norway, Denmark and Sweden, have met or exceeded the 0.7 per cent target.

The director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), David Mepham said: "If the UK Government is serious about tackling poverty and hunger in Africa, it should set a clear timetable for reaching the UN 0.7 per cent overseas aid/GNI target, to be achieved by the end of the decade.

"Five countries have already exceeded this target, while a further four, including France, Spain and Ireland, have recently made specific time-bound commitments to do so.

"The UK has the strongest performing economy in Europe and one of the best development agencies in the world: there is no excuse for not following suit.

"At the launch of the new Commission for Africa in February, Tony Blair asserted that Africa should be treated as 'an absolute priority' over the coming years.

"Honouring this pledge should involve higher levels of aid for Africa in the UK's forthcoming spending review, plus support for better governance in Africa, fairer terms of trade, deeper debt relief, increased private investment in Africa and tighter controls over arms exports to the region."

The IPPR claims that on current trends Africa will fail to meet almost all of the Millennium Development Goals.

The Government has so far committed to raising the proportion of GNI to 0.4 per cent by 2005/06.

Writing on Monday in The Independent, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the UK government is determined to press world action on poverty reduction.

Gordon Brown said: "The richest countries cannot continue setting targets, failing to meet them and then expecting the poorest countries to trust our word.

"Only comprehensive policies for economic and social development - promoting growth, fair trade and aid - will bring a lasting exit from debt and poverty."

Mr Brown said that 50 countries have "already indicated support for Britain's proposal for an International Finance Facility, which by front-loading aid and leveraging in funds from the capital markets, would double aid to halve poverty."

"Britain's proposal would release an extra $50 billion per year of development aid through to 2015 - $10 billion to finance primary school education for every child denied it, the best investment the world could ever make, $20 billion to cut infant and maternal mortality and tackle Aids, and $20 billion to contribute to economic and social development and halve poverty."

The proposals will be presented to the world at the forthcoming G8 summit by International Development Sectretary Hilary Benn.

Tags: