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News
July 9, 2009
Briones warns against decline in G8 aid,
calls
for self-reliance in funding social
development
Former National Treasurer Leonor Briones
warns that an impending decline in
development aid from the eight richest
countries in the world should force the
Philippines to be more self-reliant in
funding basic services. This was raised
as the Group of Eight (G8) Summit
convenes in L’Aquila, Italy from July 8
to 10.
Briones, Lead Convenor of Social Watch
Philippines, met last week with the
development minister in Germany to lobby
with G8 countries to increase aid to
developing countries. The G8 membership
consists of Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom
and USA.
In 2005, the G8 committed to increase
aid to developing countries by $50
billion until 2010 but the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) estimated that it
will fall short of its commitments by as
much as $23 billion. Italy, which is
hosting the 2009 G8 Summit, is being
criticized for slashing, instead of
increasing, its aid.
“The recent pronouncement of German
Chancellor Angela Merkel that the G8 is
no longer the appropriate forum to solve
the world’s problems is alarming. This
sends the wrong signal to other donor
countries outside the G8 that it is
alright to renege on aid commitments,”
Briones said. “This does not bode well
for the poor in developing countries
like the Philippines whose level of
deprivation can only be worsened by the
global economic and climate crises,” she
added.
Based on NEDA’s Official Development
Assistance (ODA) Portfolio Review for
the first quarter of 2009, ODA declined
by 22.1% from $9.72 billion in 2008. It
said that one of the reasons for the
decline is that there were more closed
loans than new loans.
“We should not look to the international
community to compensate the deficient
funding for health, education and other
social services because we are not their
priority,” said Briones.
In 2008, there were P377 million worth
of foreign assisted projects (FAPs)
under the Department of Health, of which
amount 80% was sourced from the loan
proceeds while the remaining 20% is
government’s counterpart. For the same
period, Department of Education had FAPs
with the total cost of P924.55 million,
of which 63% was from loan proceeds
while government counterpart was 37%.
“Next year’s budget should break the
trend of decreasing share of social
services in national government
expenditures established by the Arroyo
administration,” Briones, who currently
serves as Co-Convenor of the Alternative
Budget Initiative (ABI), asserts. “It
should reflect greater self-reliance in
funding essential services. The Arroyo
administration should also refrain from
unnecessarily withholding funds
appropriated for these purposes,” she
added.
Briones is a member of the W8, a group
of eight women representing the national
coalitions of eight developing countries
campaigning on quality and accessible
basic services at national and
international institutions and fora.
Oxfam International initiated the
formation of the W8 which also includes
country representatives from Thailand,
Bangladesh, India, Georgia, Mali, Malawi
and Nicaragua.
BACKGROUNDER
Engaging the G8
Yesterday, the G8 formally opened its
annual summit in the city of L’Aquila,
in Italy.
What is the G8?
The G8 is composed of the world’s eight
leading industrialized nations. They
are considered among the richest and
most powerful countries in the
international community. Originally
called the G7, the group is composed of
United Kingdom, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, the United
States and Russia.
The G8 held an annual summit hosted by a
rotating presidency.
The first summit in 1975 focused on the
global economic crisis of that time.
They met to discuss the global economic
situation and coordinate policies to
reinvigorate their policies.
According to Bloomberg, “The industrial
world is beset by the harshest economic
conditions in a lifetime: a projected
U.S. budget deficit of 13.6% of GDP in
2009, unmatched since World War;
annualized 14.2% contraction in the
Japanese GDP in the first quarter, also
the worst since the war; in the first
three months of 2009, German exports had
their steepest quarterly decline since
1970.
Top issues
Agenda items include the global economy,
climate change, trade, African
development and food safety. Iran is
also a cause for G8 concern.
Other invited countries
Forty countries and leading
international organizations are invited
for this year’s summit. G8 will issue a
joint statement on sustainable growth
with the Group of Five consisting of
China, Mexico, India, Brazil, and South
Africa plus Egypt.
Leaders of eight African countries are
also invited.
What is the W8?
The W8 is composed of eight
extraordinary women from around the
world who have dedicated their lives to
fighting for health and education, as
well as other social development issues
in their own countries. They lead
national coalitions in their own
countries and lobby for increased budget
support for health and education from
domestic as well as international
sources.
To dramatize, their campaign the W8
point out that if governments don’t
invest in basic services for the poorest
people, many more lives will be
needlessly lost. Every three seconds, a
child dies from a preventable disease.
Every minute a woman dies in childbirth
or pregnancy. Around the world, 72
million children don’t go to school,
most of whom are girls.
The focus of their campaign are
primarily the G8 countries with their
combined GDP of $32 trillion.
Who are the members of W8?
The members of W8 are Leonor Magtolis
Briones of the Philippines, Sandhya
Venkateswaran of India, Miranda
Akhvlediani of Georgia, Rokeya Kabir of
Bangladesh, Kadiatou Baby Maiga of Mali,
Dr. Jiraporn Limpananont of Thailand,
Elba Rivera-Urbina of Nicaragua, and
Dorothy Ngoma of Malawi.
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