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When is $25bn not $25bn

I have found where the $25bn figure comes from. It is quoted somewhere by the OECD. Notwithstanding Bob Geldof's claim* that it is related to the Live8 concerts, actually it is a figure that has been cited for some time.

ODA (Official Development Aid) is the net bilateral payment including money paid to international organisations. It is net of money loaned and money repaid. In otherwords if a country is loaned aid then that is added to the gross. If a country repays a loan then it reduces aid for that year.

That does mean that the figure is ultimately adjustable through countries lending some money to an international institution that is then repaid in a later year.

The link is to the Development Aid Committee of the OECD which is the main source of this information.

As far as I can tell the G8 jolly has not delivered anything that was not planned earlier in the year. I would like to pin down exactly where the OECD has calculated the $25bn (out of $50bn) figure.

Perhaps one of my main criticisms of the Blair spin is that there are so many uncertainties and exaggerations that we lose track of basic practical issues and hence fail to deliver.

claim* in case the link changes:
"It's been a long walk from Live Aid's $200 million 20 years ago to Live 8's $25 billion today."

Live8 was an excellent idea, but the main result has been the excellent result of reuniting Pink Floyd for what as a very good set.

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