The MDGs | Poverty, Trade and Debt

Focus on Goal 1
Focus on Goal 8

Focus on Goal 8

Develop a global partnership for development

This represents a global social agreement: developing countries will do more to ensure their own development, and developed countries will support them through aid, debt relief and better opportunities for trade. Progress in each of these areas has already begun to yield results. But developed countries have fallen short of targets they have set for themselves.

To achieve the Millennium Development Goals, increased aid and debt relief must be accompanied by further opening of trade, accelerated transfer of technology and improved employment opportunities for the growing ranks of young people in the developing world.

Source: The Millennium Development Goals Report - 2005

To achieve the Targets in Goal 8 will require the richer, donor countries in the world to make changes and increase their contribution towards poorer countries. Since the Millennium Summit (in 2000) Aid has grown from $50 billion to $79 billion, a large increase but still equal to only ¼ % of donor countries annual income. At the 2005 G8 Summit in Edinburgh, a meeting of 8 of the richest countries pledges were made to double aid to Africa by 2010. If this and other promises are kept Aid will increase to $129 billion by 2010.In the UK Aid increased from 0.36% in 2004 to 0.48% in 2005 and is set to reached the agreed level of 0.7% by 2013. Currently only five donor countries have achieved 0.7% of national income while six others, including the UK have set a timetable to reach 0.7%. Source: Oxfam “Paying the Price” 2005.

Since 2003 a debt-relief programme for the most heavily indebted countries has reduced future debt payments for 27 nations by $54 billion. This should bring their payments down to 10 per cent of export earnings. In addition the 2005 G8 debt deal is set to cancel a further $50 billion for the poorest countries including Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Mali. African countries will still however be left with debts of $300billion. These debts are from loans taken out years ago which because of subsequent inflation can never realistically be cleared. Debt relief often comes with strings attached by the IMF and World Bank to privatise industries resulting in loss of jobs and income.

The main gain for poor people is that the $50 billion debt cancellation will allow for between $600 million and $1 billion in each poorer country to be spent on poverty reduction.

 

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