Insufficient. Development aid pledged by France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Japan to the poor countries, particularly in Africa, have fallen short of their targets. The seven countries have been classified as "poor performers" by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at a time when financial assistance is needed more than ever.
According to a report released Wednesday, February 17, by OECD, the results achieved this year is 21 billion short of pledges made by rich countries in 2005. According to Eckhard Deutscher, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), “Aid has increased strongly as 16 donors have honored their commitments. But underperformance by the others, notably Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Portugal, means overall aid will still fall considerably short of what was promised. These commitments were made and confirmed repeatedly by heads of governments and it is essential that they be met to the full extent.” And the shrinking of economies linked to the crisis is only a flimsy argument, valued at approximately $ 4 billion.
"I want to emphasize the necessity, the absolute imperative of our support to poor countries", said Nicolas Sarkozy on 1 April, 2009 at the G20 summit in London. But, although some of these countries have upped their aid, the contributions are not as much as they had promised. OECD analysis show that Africa may receive only 12 billion USD out of the total 21 billion pledged at the summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005. Countries in the euro zone had pledged to contribute up to 0.51% of their gross national income (GNI). Out of the 15 members, only 9 have kept their promises (Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland) and 6 are likely not to do so (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal).
Source: Africa World News
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