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Africa: Sweden, Ireland And the UK Lead Continent's Aid Index
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Hopewell Radebe
Johannesburg
AN INDEX of 21 rich states ranking their commitment to help African states shows Sweden, Ireland and Britain are the leading contributors to development on the continent.
The Washington-based Centre for Global Development said in its commitment to development index, which rates rich countries on how much their policies help or hurt African countries, that the three European nations were doing more to help the continent in seven development categories.
The index tracks rich countries' performance based not only on the quantity of foreign aid, but also on the quality of assistance, their openness to exports from African states, environmental stewardship and support for multilateral security mechanisms. It includes contributions to international peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions.
Japan remained the least committed to the continent, while the US, the world's largest economy, was a distant 13th.
Japan will host this year's meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised states in Hokkaido in July. President Thabo Mbeki is expected to attend.
Counting heavily against Japan is its huge tariffs on rice, which average 600%-800% .
The index also takes into account investment and migration policies, as well as commitment to promote and freely share technology. It has been designed to replace the usual criteria of measuring only foreign aid as a percentage of gross domestic product.
The index gave Sweden the top spot because of its strong showing in aid and security, while Ireland finished second on the back of its large aid contributions and large peacekeeping troop presence in Liberia.
Britain landed the third spot because it was deemed among the largest investors and backers of security in Africa. Britain gets top marks for its migration and environmental policies.
"Rich nations are linked to Africa in many ways and not just through foreign aid," Steve Roodman of the Centre for Global Development said in a statement. "If we are serious about helping development in Africa we cannot just look at one aspect."
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In the environment subcategory, the US came in last with the report saying that the US has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
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