Blog post

G8: KEEPING PROMISES?-Aid and Aid Effectiveness

2 min read
22 Oct 2013

Aid and Aid Effectiveness

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The G8 rated their intervention in Aid and Aid Effectiveness to be satisfactory. Official Development Aid (ODA) from the G8 to low income countries has increased 30% from 2004 to 2012. But,perhaps due to the recession, ODA in 2012 was lower than in 2011. Another negative point is that the commitment to focus aid on low income countries does not seem to have been achieved, as only roughly 1/3 of aid has gone to these countries.

As a strong positive, the G8 are carrying through funding the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. Their pledge of $1 billion to the debt relief trust fund has been far surpassed: the total donated is now $1.9 billion. In addition, in 2005, the G8 agreed a proposal for debt relief that would cancel these countries' remaining debts, with an agreement to offset their debt and interest on it dollar for dollar up to their burden shares. As of the end of 2012, all had paid the agreed amounts.

Aid effectiveness has become progressively important in recent years. In particular, the G8 are taking part in the Global Partnership for Aid Effectiveness and Development Cooperation, set in 2011. This partnership prioritises the use of monitoring frameworks with the aim of achieving higher levels of transparency in interventions. In conclusion, though good work has been done on debt relief, it seems that the G8 should direct their aid more towards low income countries, and that more work needs to be done on aid effectiveness.

Image courtesy of flickr