Many people think of aid as a great thing. However the unfortunate truth is that of the total amount of aid quoted, for example, in Government figures, only a small amount actually makes it through to those who need it.
Much of the money is lost in corruption in both the donor and recipient countries. The administration of the aid also uses up a portion.
Government aid often has so-called 'strings' attached - for example the recipient country will be expected to give political support to the donor country. Giving aid will often be in the donor country's best interests - for with more money, the recipients will be able to buy goods and services from the donor country.
About a third of all aid has to be paid straight back because of the high interest charged on foreign loans to poor countries.
Donor countries often favour 'prestige' projects, such as sports stadia, which do not help the majority of the people. More aid is spent on weapons which the recipient countries do not really need. Only a trickle of aid actually makes it through to the real needy in the poor countries.
Voluntary aid
Voluntary aid (that given by charities such as Oxfam) generally does not suffer from these problems, and almost all their aid gets to those who need it most. Unfortunately, this aid is tiny in comparison with the aid given by governments.
The amount of aid in real terms
Governmental aid itself may sound large, when expressed in millions of dollars, but in relation to the total spending of many countries, it is tiny - and aid funding, in relation to other spending is in decline. Britain gave only 0.3% of GNP in 1991.