Cape Town — Aid flows to Africa have remained static for two years and are set to drop, in spite of donor promises to increase giving, a monitoring group has found.

Moreover, donor support to agriculture and rural development has decreased, while African governments are failing to meet their target of increasing agricultural spending to ten percent of their budgets.

These findings have been released by the African Monitor, a South African-based NGO which has been established to ensure that donors meet their promises and aid recipients spend the money properly.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, president of the NGO, told a media briefing that although Africa’s growth rates had been impressive in the last few years, this did not automatically lead to improvements in the socio-economic conditions of the poor.

"Aid has remained static to Africa since 2005, and has decreased overall if debt relief to Nigeria and Iraq is excluded," Ndungane said. "Donors who promised to double aid to the continent are largely not fulfilling that promise. In 2007 and 2008 aid is expected to drop even further."

Ahead of the G8 Summit in Germany in June, the World Economic Forum's forthcoming Africa meeting in Cape Town and the African Union Summit in July, Ndungane called on world leaders "to prioritize prioritize delivery for the grassroots."

A Review of Promises and Progress Made to Development in Africa