Promoting Growth and Development

Aid is the voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another, or loans given on concessionary terms. Official development assistance relates specifically to aid provided by governments and excludes aid given by voluntary agencies. Aid may be given for emergency relief. The UN goal for the amount of aid offered by developed countries is 0.7% of GDP.

Tied Aid is aid with conditions attached, there might be a requirement to buy goods from the donor country or the aid might be given on the condition that there are some economic and political reforms. Aid from many countries, including the UK, is now completely untied.

        Bilateral Aid is aid given directly by one country to another.

      Multilateral Aid occurs when countries pay money to an international agency which then distributes it to countries on the basis of certain criteria. Aid Dependency

Aid Dependency occurs when a country becomes reliant on aid to the extent that it is such a large proportion of GDP that the nation would be unable to maintain central government functions without it. Aid dependency is a particular problem for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but also for nations embroiled in wars. The worst aid dependency is in Afghanistan, where aid amounted to 36% of GDP in 2006.