Germany rejects doubling aid plan

By Penny Hawthorne | 28 June 2005

From Bloomberg:

The German government rejects a doubling of development aid to Africa as some of the receiving countries wouldn't be able to absorb the inflow of funds, Deputy Development Minister Uschi Eid [pictured] told reporters in Berlin.

Doubling development aid "is not very wise" for countries lacking strong institutions, capacities, professionalism and skilled labor, Eid said at a press conference today. Germany would only agree to give twice as much aid after bureaucratic structures have been created to ensure the efficient use of the added money, she said.

It is "the position of the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer and the U.K. Prime Minister that we quickly need to double development aid and then the problems in Africa will be quickly solved," said Eid. "I can't support this general concept," the government official said, adding she was "also speaking on behalf of" German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Eid told the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that: "If there is such a realignment in the discourse on development aid, and I see this with great alarm, then we'll come up with twice as much money but still not solve Africa's problems."

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Andrew Natsios, head of the US Agency for International Development, has said that giving 0.7 percent of American GDP aid would amount to $91 billion and that: "We couldn't spend $91 billion if we wanted to." He also said: "If we ever reached 0.7 percent, we would be the dominant force in all aid" and be accused of "imperial development".