N,Z.’s foreign aid ‘pathetic’

Press, 8 January 1983, Page 5

N,Z.’s foreign aid ‘pathetic’

PA Wellington The Government’s approach to foreign aid was an international scandal, the Labour member of parliament for Wanganui, Mr C. R. Marshall, has said. He would write to Church leaders asking them to pressure the Government into providing more aid for developing countries, he said. New Zealand gave the lowest level of aid to developing countries of any of the 17 nations on the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (0.E.C.D.). .

“Our total aid for 1981 was a pitiful 0.39 per cent of gross national product,” Mr Marshall said.

"This is a pathetically mean contribution when compared with the United States' 0.9 per cent, Japan’s 1.09 per cent, Britain's 2.01 per cent. Switzerland's 2.35

per cent, or Belgium’s 2.93 per cent. “It is a disgraceful figure compared with the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of G.N.P. but among developing countries it is uniquely parsimonious. Our foreign aid is less than one-third oi the O.E.C.D. member nations average of 1.21 per cent," he said.