December 6, 2004
U.S., Italy, Japan Named by Oxfam as G-8's Stingiest Aid Donors
Bloomberg

The U.S., Italy and Japan are the stingiest foreign aid donors in the Group of Eight nations, Oxfam said, aiming to put pressure on world leaders to boost payments to poor nations by $50 billion next year.

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Italy and Japan are the stingiest foreign aid donors in the Group of Eight nations, Oxfam said, aiming to put pressure on world leaders to boost payments to poor nations by $50 billion next year.

The Oxford, England, based charity said aid budgets in the world's richest industrial nations have been cut in half in the past three decades, totaling about 0.25 percent of gross domestic product now compared with 0.5 percent in 1962.

``As rich countries get richer, they're giving less and less,'' said Barbara Stocking, a director of Oxfam. ``This is a scandal that must stop. Unless world leaders act now, the year will end in shameful failure.''

The comments will help U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair in his goal to make alleviating poverty in Africa one of the major accomplishments of the G-8 next year when Britain leads the organization.

Industrial nations pledged in 1970 to boost aid payments to 0.7 percent of national income. Today, only Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Luxembourg have met the goal. Of 22 nations tracked by Oxfam, 17 are failing to meet the goal, including all of the G-8 nations.

G-8 nations for years have agreed on the principle of boosting aid and relieving the debts of poor countries, only to bicker about the details of implementing any plan.

G-8 Squabble

For the past two years, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has attempted to win support for an International Finance Facility designed to double the amount of debt relief available to $100 billion. The U.S., Canada, Japan and Germany oppose the plan.

Oxfam said industrial nations should boost aid payments by $50 billion, paying to cancel the debts of the world's poorest nations and fund programs to alleviate disease and poverty. Doing nothing would mean 45 million children will die and 97 million more will be out of school by 2015, the charity said.

The U.S. contributes the least foreign aid of any of the 22 nations tracked by Oxfam. Its budget is about 0.14 percent of gross domestic product, followed by Italy at 0.17 percent and Japan and Austria at 0.20 percent.

France is the most generous donor in the G-8, contributing 0.42 percent of national income, followed by Britain at 0.34 percent, Germany at 0.28 percent and Canada at 0.26 percent. France has said it will meet the 0.7 percent goal by 2012 and the U.K. by 2013.

The rest of the G-8 nations including the U.S. have no timetable on when they plan to meet the goal. G-8 nations reaffirmed that goal at a summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and have called for more generous aid donations at meetings in 2000, 2002 and in Washington in September.

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