Africa/Global: NGOs condemn dubious aid statistics linked to export credit debt deals

"At the Monterrey and Millennium summits governments worldwide pledged to achieve a series of important poverty-related goals by 2015. Among other important measures, the industrialized world promised to increase aid flows to enable increased social investments by those countries that are struggling to guarantee a future to their citizens. While it is encouraging that a number of governments have announced increased aid levels in recent years, we are very concerned that many governments are falsely inflating their aid figures by including debt write-offs. Export credit debts alone increase the stated aid total of many countries by one quarter of their real amount."