8
The Transfer of Wealth from
the South to the North
One idea is deeply embedded in the public psyche: the North helps the
South. Still, former French president Frangois Mitterrand declared at
the July 1994 G7 meeting in Naples:
In spite of the considerable sums spent on bilateral and multilateral
aid, the flow of capital from Africa to the industrial countries is
higher than the flow from the industrial countries to developing
countries.In fact, there is a massive transfer of the social surplus created by
the South's workers and small producers to the dominant classes of
the industrialised world and of the Third World countries themselves.
This chapter initially provides a general overview of the different
types of South-North transfers, then discusses the loss of potential
hard currency earnings incurred by the South as a result of the
North's protectionist policies. Finally, the chapter examines official
development assistance (ODA) from a variety of angles.
THE TRANSFER OF WEALTH
The transfer of wealth takes many converging forms.
Debt Repayment
Here are the UN's official figures: total developing country foreign
debtin 1980, S567 billion; in 1986, SI,086 billion; in 1992, S1.419
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