Arithmetic of aid assault is faulty

From Mr John McArthur andProf Jeffrey Sachs.

Sir, Jeremiah Norris's attack on aid (Letters, April 14) completely misses the target. He compares average aid flows to developing countries over the past half-century (roughly Dollars 16 per recipient per year) with successful Marshall Plan aid, claiming the latter was "less than Dollars 10 per person per year". But he commits a simple arithmetic mistake.

The Dollars 16 is measured in 2004 dollars, while Mr Norris measures the Marshall Plan aid in historical dollars. In comparable 2004 dollars average aid during the 1949-51 Marshall Plan period was roughly Dollars 85 per person per year, and more than Dollars 100 per person per year in France and the UK. Also, Mr Norris wrongly claims that "the funds were paid back" since most were grants, not loans.

Interestingly, the Group of Eight industrialised nations has promised Africa to raise aid to roughly Dollars 80 per recipient by 2010, but has so far failed to implement the actual increases or even to announce an annual timetable to do so. As in the Marshall Plan, the aid will work if it is directed to priority investments in infrastructure, health, education, and agriculture, rather than commandeered by the donors themselves for high-priced consultants, meetings and reports.

John McArthur,

Associate Director

Jeffrey Sachs,

Director

Earth Institute at Columbia University,

New York, NY 10027, US