HC Deb 20 February 1990 vol 167 cc627-8W
Mr. Peter Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what efforts are made in the targeting of overseas aid to ensure that the benefits are obtained by the poorest citizens of those countries selected to receive aid.

Mrs. Chalker

The long-term alleviation of poverty requires sustained economic growth. But much can be done directly to help the poor participate in and benefit from the process of development. We therefore consider within all our bilateral country aid programmes the scope for targeting assistance on the poorest groups, as well as

Gross bilateral aid to poorest 20 countries1
1979–88 £ thousand
Country 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Mozambique 6,369 4,629 5,379 1,924 1,805 4,182 8,366 7,424 22,798 30,512
Ethiopia 2,877 1,946 563 5,645 3,433 7,004 28,058 9,627 8,554 19,174
Bhutan 24 63 93 74 136 175 165 187 270 412
Chad 45 26 35 360 156 31 1,448 89 179 252
Malawi 24,941 16,543 15,999 16,984 14,620 12,959 22,356 15,346 24,865 46,494
Tanzania 24,076 32,119 30,040 27,328 30,384 33,033 17,967 12,715 28,798 33,502
Guinea-Bissau 173 56 739 244 105 16 62 30 51
Bangladesh 33,821 66,190 33,383 23,537 24,728 35,656 41,173 38,321 34,842 41,968
Somalia 1,311 2,806 2,441 2,528 2,486 2,058 1,737 3,941 7,292 6,675
Nepal 11,235 6,834 8,035 9,596 7,398 8,580 9,675 9,946 10,044 10,826
Zaire 2,315 548 1,685 317 2,203 1,253 738 285 3,112 595
Madagascar 100 542 300 561 199 363 469 514 551 434
Laos 29 13 80 1 4 6 64 104
Gambia 2,796 2,270 2,321 2,480 2,400 3,638 3,613 9,897 7,197 6,530
Mali 489 232 281 110 190 533 744 1,188 982 1,195
Burundi 17 23 21 25 50 75 81 95 90 116
Burkina Faso 24 96 35 25 82 120 276 131 155 314
Sierra Leone 3,283 2,843 3,165 3,833 3,199 2,858 3,626 3,845 2,652 3,677
Uganda 2,212 2,875 15,078 10,647 6,109 7,081 9,171 8,576 12,180 28,589
Zambia 5,070 20,696 24,119 14,237 15,485 32,901 25,552 35,351 25,349 16,683
1 Poorest 20 countries in 1988 obtained from 1989 World Bank. Atlas. Cambodia and Vietnam not included in this table since no precise figures available on GNP per capita.

source: British Aid Statistics.

Mr. Peter Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the 20 poorest nations measured by gross domestic product per head, indicating which of these received regular United Kingdom bilateral aid in the last 10 years.

Mrs. Chalker

Figures for 1989 are not yet available. The information for the 50 poorest countries during the period 1979–88 is as follows:

Percentage of total gross bilateral aid
Year Percentage
1979 72.4
1980 64.9
1981 62.7
1982 58.1
1983 62.9
1984 63.7
1985 62.7
1986 63.1
1987 68.1
1988 69.5

source: British Aid Statistics.

supporting the growth of the economy generally. We are channelling increasing amounts of aid through non-governmental organisations which are often best equipped to tackle poverty at grass roots level. In 1988–89 £63 million of aid was provided through non-governmental organisations.