June 7th, 2005
Bush chips in for Africa
Well George Bush has finally revealed how much he’s going to give to Africa in aid. Trillions? Billions? No. A measly, scabby 370 million dollars. So the US’ total donation is pretty much the same as the amount that one of the US army super-duper-can’t-go-out-in-the-rain-because-it-fecks-up-the-cloaking-device planes costs.
Nice. Real nice.
June 8th, 2005 at 10:46 am
They hardly have the same size economies though do they?
June 8th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
The USA has allocated large sums for campaigns against AIDS, so this $370m towards debt relief should not be the only thing for measuring US government overseas aid efforts. However, US foreign aid in other parts of the globe is targeted in accordance with regional defence strategies, and has nothing to do with poverty priorities. Debt cancellation may help struggling countries in Africa if the money then becoming available to (sometimes) corrupt and inept governments is spent on socially useful projects and programmes. International trade terms, quota restrictions and other barriers will remain to African development. Bob and Bono have lobbied well - sing a song for them.