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Tuesday, March 26, 2019

No Free Lunch

Under capitalism, you get nothing for nothing.

Rich countries are using their aid budgets to promote their own national interests rather than focusing on helping people in poor countries, according to research.

As populism and economic pressures rise, countries that have pledged to spend part of their national income on aid are opting for short-term political or economic wins over poverty reduction, Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI) said. ODI researcher Nilima Gulrajani said donor countries were increasingly tying their aid with trade and investments to promote their own economic interests. "Even though donors see their own interests intimately tied to the rest of the world, there's also a desire to instrumentalise aid for short-term geopolitical and commercial gains," said Gulrajani, lead author of the ODI report.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May said last August she would use the country's international aid budget to deepen trade ties with Africa and help British companies invest on the continent.

http://news.trust.org/item/20190325234859-yujze/

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