Donor nations 'miss aid targets'

The OECD says aid to sub-Saharan Africa is below declared targets

The world's major donor nations have fallen behind on their commitment to raise the amount of money they give to developing countries, a study has said.

That is a key finding of a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

It says the G8 group of wealthiest nations "face a real challenge" to meet their pledge to double aid to sub-Saharan Africa by 2010.

The OECD said overall aid fell by 8.4% in 2007, in line with expectations.

It said the annual decline was expected as a result of the planned end of major debt relief for Iraq and Nigeria.

'Lack of leadership'

"Overall, most donors are not on track to meet their stated commitments to scale up aid and will need to make unprecedented increases to meet the targets they have set for 2010," said the OECD.

These figures don't lie Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam

The report found that last year's biggest donors by volume were the US, Germany, France, UK and Japan.

However, the most generous nations in terms of donations as a proportion of gross national income were Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Oxfam said the figures showed that rich nations were breaking their aid promises.

"These figures don't lie," said Oxfam's Jeremy Hobbs.

"They show a clear lack of leadership on bringing much needed funding to poor countries."