U.S. Foreign Aid Criticised

Press, Volume C, Issue 29637, 6 October 1961, Page 13

U.S. Foreign Aid Criticised

(N.Z. Press Association—Cooi/nsht) NEW YORK. October 5. The President of the World Bank (Mr Eugene Black) last night criticised the widely-held concept of American foreign aid as a “necessary weapon” of the cold war.

He said development aid I would remain imperative * even if communism was ( eliminated immediately. In an address to the In- 1 vestment Bankers’ Association. Mr Black called on the I bankers to support the i American foreign aid pro- < gramme and also see that it 1 was planned and admin- > istered to produce results. < He said Americans were uncomfortable about foreign i aid because the programme ■ had been “muddled and confused in its objectives, often ' mediocre in its administra- 1 tion. “We have been sold • foreign aid as an emergency ' measure to stop communism, j as a necessary tool to ‘make i

friends and influence people’ in the under-developed world, as a ’must' to expand our export trade,” he declared. Yet none of these objectives had been reached. Soviet influence remained high, the aid was received more often with “grumbling dissatisfaction” and the United States balance of payments position had worsened, not improved. “We can only achieve the real objective of our foreign aid programme if emphasis is put. not on the quantity of money provided, but on the quality of the investment made with that money—on the amount of effective development which foreign aid funds buy or induce.” he said.