poor countries so as to compensate for the lack of domestic savings, it
is actually the opposite that has been taking place for many years. In
2004, the net transfer of financial resources from the South to the
North has approached the record sum of $350 billion.^64 Furthermore,
in spite of the heightened attention of the international community,
the debt problem remains a serious brake on development efforts. The
debt volume of the developing countries and the former socialist
countries taken together has expanded significantly during the past
decade. In 2001, debt reimbursements were estimated at close to $300
billion, while interest payments alone reached almost $100 billion.^65
However well intentioned, the debt relief measures that have been
introduced over the years have remained plainly insufficient. On one
hand, their implementation has been subject to an exceedingly slow
process. On the other, their impact continues to be limited because
they neglect certain key aspects, such as private debts and volatility in
commodity prices.
The financial crisis faced by the Third World is aggravated by the
relative decline of development assistance. From 1960 to 2005, foreign
aid dropped from 0.5 to 0.33 percent of the rich countries’ Gross
National Income^66 (Figure3.4 ). The objective to which the developed
countries committed themselves in the 1970s – to devote 0.7 percent of
their Gross National Product to foreign aid – has until now been
attained only by a group of five small countries (Denmark, Luxem-
bourg, theNetherlands, Norway, and Sweden). It is particularly dis-
tressing to note that international aid adds up to a mere 10 percent of
global military spending. Furthermore, assistance remains strongly
oriented toward countries representing strategic or commercial interests
(China, former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Pakistan) rather than the poorest
nations. Although welcome, the recent rise in net official development
assistance cannot erase the fact that the peace dividends that were to
derive from the end of the Cold War have never materialized.
The developed countries’ lack of generosity jeopardizes the achieve-
ment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by
(^64) United Nations,World Economic and Social Survey 2005, New York, United
65 Nations, 2005, p. x.
UNCTAD,Development and Globalization, pp. 28–29.
(^66) OECD,Development Co-operation Report, Paris, OECD, various years. The
term Gross National Income has replaced the term Gross National Product in
the OECD’s new System of National Accounts.
74 Left and Right in Global Politics