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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Official Development Assistance to Africa: An Overview |
Authors: | Ali, A.A.G. Malwanda, C. Suliman, Y. |
Year: | 1999 |
Periodical: | Journal of African Economies |
Volume: | 8 |
Issue: | 4 |
Period: | December |
Pages: | 504-527 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Africa Cameroon Uganda |
Subjects: | development cooperation international relations Development and Technology Economics and Trade |
External link: | https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/8/4/504.full.pdf |
Abstract: | This analysis of the level, composition and mechanisms of official development assistance (ODA) to Africa takes its starting point in the international aid system and first discusses the key elements of the aid-dependency syndrome. It provides an overview of the debate on aid from an African perspective and examines the problems and prospects of aid flows to Africa, including the impact of aid policies on investment and growth and on the real exchange rate (RER). ODA flows reflect considerable differences between African countries. To highlight the significance of this diversity, the paper reviews the results of two country studies, on Uganda and Cameroon. The conclusion deals with practical and strategic issues relating to a better aid system. The nature of aid and the mechanisms which deliver it are inefficient and uncoordinated. Despite this inefficiency, a sudden reduction in aid would cause economic and social disruptions. The current system is a spiral of weak recipient capacity for monitoring and evaluation leading to an intrusive role of donors in decisions on public expenditure, resulting in further weakened recipient capacity. A new aid relationship based on a results-oriented and people-centred consensus model of development cooperation would require a shared vision. However, given the uncertainty as regards future aid flows to Africa, it is imperative that African countries evaluate the implications of declining trends in ODA. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |