Four billion dollars is a lot of money. This is the amount Australia hopes to give annually in foreign aid by 2010, doubling the present $2 billion, according to the white paper of foreign aid issued this week.
Doubling our aid is in line with the Millennium Project under which Europe promised to double aid to Africa by 2010 and in line with the recent European Union pledge to increase aid to 0.56 per cent of GNI by 2010.
But let’s not get too self-congratulatory. A few comparisons will put the amount into perspective.
We now give 0.25 per cent of gross national income in foreign aid – that is just 25 cents in each $100 we earn. It is just $150 out of an average income of $60,000. But that $150 can make such a big impact — five months’ income for some of the poorest people in Asia.
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