HC Deb 20 May 2004 vol 421 cc1120-1W
Angus Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much(a) financial aid and (b) aid in kind his Department has delivered to (i) Africa, (ii) Central Africa, (iii) Uganda, (iv) Rwanda, (v) Burundi and (vi) the Democratic Republic of Congo in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [173812]

Hilary Benn

The amount of bilateral development assistance DFID has given to Africa and the other specified region/countries is given in the following table. Financial aid (excluding the Aid and Trade Provision) comprises all expenditure in columns 1 and 2, and Aid in Kind forms part of the expenditure in column 5.

£000
1

Project or

Sector Aid

2

Programme

Aid

3

Technical

Cooperation

4

Aid and Trade

Provision

5

Grants Other

Aid in Kind

6

Humanitarian

Assistance

7

DFID Debt

Relief

8

Total DFID

Programme

2000–01 17 1,896 832 10,203 12,946
2001–02 16 1,792 272 11,085 13,166
2002–03 16 4,091 1,295 25,161 30,562
(ii) Uganda
1997–98 9,813 19,145 12,333 5,993 657 47,941
1996–99 17,785 17,000 11,928 5,500 360 52,574
1999–2000 41,467 16,000 17,287 5,910 543 81,206
2000–01 17,826 45,000 15,748 7,320 447 66,342
2001–02 13,974 35,000 14,611 4,563 328 68,476
2002–03 13,846 17,500 15,580 5,409 2,533 54,868
(iv) Rwanda
1997–98 335 1,843 4,019 6,198
1996–99 10,000 1,282 1,281 1,005 13,568
1999–2000 10,000 2,341 784 1,170 14,294
2000–01 1,052 25,400 5,419 837 32,708
2001–02 1,488 18,586 6,212 741 27,027
2002–03 2,348 22,032 6,542 1,423 32,344
(v) Burundi
1997–98 3 18 1,580 1,602
1996–99 26 298 324
1999–2000 203 709 912
2000–01 43 1,504 1,547
2001–02 64 540 604
2002–03 65 814 1,055 1,934
(vi) Congo (Dm Rep)
1997–98 48 6,056 807 6,911
1996–99 63 118 370 552
1999–2000 49 15 1,257 1,322
2000–01 23 38 3,036 3,096
2001–02 188 63 5,307 5,558
2002–03 1,138 83 11,650 12,871

Note:

Comprises expenditure for Angola, Burundi, DRC, Entrea and Somalia,

The Government's total aid budget has doubled since 1997–98—from £2 billion to £4 billion. As the table shows, assistance to Africa has more than doubled. In the current (2004–05) financial year my Department's bilateral programme in Africa stands at £864 million and in 2005–06 we plan to spend £1.1 billion. These figures demonstrate our real and growing commitment to Africa. But it is not only the quantity of assistance that matters; quality too is vital. In order to improve the quality of aid and hence its impact we are working increasingly closely with other donors to reduce the number of individual and uncoordinated initiatives, and to ensure we use our aid to strengthen—not undermine—national planning and implementation capacity.