New website details US aid spending


USAID intends to give agriculture in Southern Africa a big boost in 2011, according to the new US aid website
Photo: Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN

Johannesburg, 29 December 2010 (IRIN) - In its bid to become more transparent, the US government has launched a new “Dashboard” website to show foreign aid flows.

The US government spends more than US$58 billion a year in foreign assistance through more than 20 agencies. Total government expenditure is over three trillion (thousand billion) dollars annually.

Though the USA is the world’s largest aid donor, it devoted only 0.2 percent of its Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA), according to 2009 figures released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - far short of the 0.7 percent of GNI commitment made by rich countries in 1970.

The “Dashboard”, still incomplete, only provides details of aid managed by the state and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) amounting to $37 billion. Peace and security tops the list of sectors which receive foreign assistance - nearly $11 billion. Humanitarian aid gets the fourth highest amount - just over $4 billion.

irinnews.org