§ Lord Moynihanasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the figures contained in CARE Afghanistan's report published on 30 September that in the four recent post-conflict settings, of Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda and East Timor, international donors spent an average of 250 dollars per person in aid, while in Afghanistan they have pledged 75 dollars per person for 2002 and 42 dollars per person per year over five years. [HL350]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Amos)I do not dispute the accuracy of the calculations that have been made by CARE in its report but I would caution against drawing conclusions based solely upon this information. Comparisons between aid levels for Afghanistan and other post-conflict countries can be misleading. In 2002, the figure for Afghanistan is around 80 dollars per capita. One has to take purchasing power into account as well as economies of scale. The purchasing power of 1 dollar in Afghanistan is clearly a lot higher than in the Balkans; and Afghanistan is a much bigger country. Support to post-conflict countries should be based on an assessment of needs, not simple comparisons.