Quote of note:

Still, Oxfam commends the recent aid increases, and Fraser admits that there is a renewed effort on the part of the international community to provide financing for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),  and this marks a real change in comparison to the aid cuts of the 1990s. 

Three Decades of Missed Aid Targets
Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 (IPS) - The world's 22 rich nations claim that their collective official development assistance (ODA) to developing countries has risen significantly: from an average of about 55 to 60 billion dollars in the late 1990s to 69 billion in 2003 and 78.6 billion dollars in 2004.

But in a new report released Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warns against any premature rejoicing over the rising numbers.

 While the nominal figures for increases in ODA are encouraging,  he admits,  they have to be interpreted with some caution. 

Adjusted for depreciation of the fast-falling U.S. dollar and worldwide price inflation, the 18.4 percent annual increase of ODA reported for 2003 relative to 2002  falls to around a quarter of that figure,  he notes.

Arabella Fraser, policy advisor for the international humanitarian organisation Oxfam, is equally guarded.

 Rich country self-congratulation is unwarranted,  Fraser told IPS.  Aid levels are still pitiful, at an average of 0.25 percent of national income, and way below the promise of 0.7 percent, which was made 35 years ago. 

Still, Oxfam commends the recent aid increases, and Fraser admits that there is a renewed effort on the part of the international community to provide financing for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),  and this marks a real change in comparison to the aid cuts of the 1990s. 

However, rich countries have not yet committed themselves to provide the additional 50 billion dollars a year needed to meet the MDGs and help end poverty, Fraser said.