The United States devotes 0.14 percent of its gross national product
(GNP) to humanitarian aid and development, according to 2003 figures
from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

That is much less than Norway and Denmark, which donate 0.92 percent
and 0.84 percent of their GNP, respectively.

Even France -- which was recently criticized as ungenerous by the
director of the US Agency for International Development -- gave 0.4
percent of its GNP in 2003, almost three times the percentage provided
by the United States.


http://www.turkishpress.com/world/news.asp?id=050102062730.gsrlddl7.xml

For Bush, southern Asia's disaster raises the delicate question of aid

01-02-2005

Eric Draper

CRAWFORD, United States (AFP) -

The tsunami disaster in southern Asia has brought to the fore the
delicate question of humanitarian and development aid from the United
States, one of the least generous of the world's rich countries.

A UN official's comment that certain unnamed countries were "stingy"
with aid touched the heart of a Republican administration that has
said helping poor countries develop economically is a key tool in the
fight against terrorism.

"It's true that the US gives a lot of money in absolute terms, but
that's just a reflection of our size," said David Roodman, a
researcher at the Center for Global Development Research, a Washington
think tank.

"In terms of aid given per person, the US is one of the least generous
rich countries. Privately Americans are generous, but our generosity
as a country is definitely not what you would expect from the leader
of the free world," he said.

Such assertions are strongly rejected by US President George W. Bush.

"I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and
ill-informed," Bush said Wednesday, responding to the "stinginess"
charge by Jan Egeland, head of humanitarian operations for the United
Nations.

To emphasize his point, and as Germany and France backed a proposal to
cancel the foreign debt of countries hardest hit by the disaster, Bush
announced Friday that Washington would donate 350 million dollars to
victims of the catastrophe.

That increased tenfold US pledges thus far and placed the United
States well in the lead of countries furnising emergency aid to South
Asian nations.

Bush waited until three days after the disaster to emerge from his
ranch here Wednesday to announce the formation of an international
coalition for emergency assistance grouping the United States,
Australia, Japan and India. Canada joined Friday.

Thursday, a White House spokesman announced that Secretary of State
Colin Powell and the president's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush,
would travel Sunday to the tsunami-devastated area. The president did
not interrupt his own year-end vacation.

The United States devotes 0.14 percent of its gross national product
(GNP) to humanitarian aid and development, according to 2003 figures
from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

That is much less than Norway and Denmark, which donate 0.92 percent
and 0.84 percent of their GNP, respectively.

Even France -- which was recently criticized as ungenerous by the
director of the US Agency for International Development -- gave 0.4
percent of its GNP in 2003, almost three times the percentage provided
by the United States.

In an index devised by the Center for World Development, taking into
account all forms of public and private aid, the United States places
seventh worldwide, on a par with Norway, France and Germany.

In launching his "war on terror" in 2001 following the September 11
attacks on the United States, Bush said he wanted to use development
aid as a tool and decided to increase it by 50 percent by 2006,
bringing it to an annual total of 15 million dollars.

He therefore created a "Millennium Challenge Account" in 2002 to
distribute funds to countries that demonstrate sound political and
economic management, and increased the allocation of gifts relative to
loans.

At the moment 16 countries are eligible to receive funds from the
account and six others can receive financial aid to help them become
eligible.

But President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, one of the eligible
countries, complained after a meeting with the US president at the
White House in December that there were "too many delays, too many
procedures."

"We haven't seen a dollar yet," he said.

_______________________________________________________

"If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be - a
Christian."

Mark Twain

Harry