More foreign aid needed to reach Millennium Development Goals: UNDP

April 04, 2007 (LBO) – Aid to poor countries has fallen since 2005, threatening the achievement of Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs) the head of the United Nations Agency that promotes sustainable development has said. In Sri Lanka for example, analysts say almost all the long-term investments in infrastructure are financed with foreign aid, while 49 cents out of every tax rupee collected in 2007 is expected to be spent on public sector salaries and pensions.

"To have a lasting impact, resources for development must increase and the increases must be sustained if we are to keep the promises that have been made to the world’s poor and achieve the Millennium Development Goals," Kemal Dervis, head of the United Nations Development Programme said in statement.

"However, at the midpoint to the target year of 2015 the growth of resources for development has stalled."

The MDGs were established seven years ago to fight extreme poverty in the world, improve health, promote gender equality and safeguard the environment.

The statement comes ahead of aid committee meeting of the 23-member Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris this week.

Falling Aid

Dervis sa