§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to what extent he takes into account the gross national product of a recipient country in determining the level of British aid.
§ Mr. Neil MartenIn determining the level of aid to a particular recipient country a number of factors are taken into account. One of these factors is relative poverty and the need for foreign assistance, and one indicator of this is the country's per capita gross national product. But there are other important considerations, including the country's ability to utilise productively the foreign assistance we could offer, the assistance offered by other bilateral and multilateral donors, and the background of political and commercial relations between the country and the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what statistical sources the Overseas Development Administration uses for determining the gross national product of the world's poorest countries.
§ Mr. Neil MartenThe Overseas Development Administration uses an annual World Bank publication called "The World Bank Atlas" as its source of information for determining the gross national product of the world's poorest countries. The latest edition of the atlas, published earlier this year, gives preliminary GNP and population figures for 1980 together with growth rates for the previous decade for some 124 countries, rich and poor.