OXFAM has attacked a number of countries, including Italy and the Irish Republic, for “really letting the side down” on overseas aid as new figures were published by a leading economic organisation.
The charity said it was a “scandal” that more than half of rich nations cut their aid last year and are giving less of their income than 2008.
Oxfam said although the figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed a “fraction” of an increase in total aid, the amount of aid had actually fallen when compared to 2008 prices.
The decline has come at a time when the World Bank estimates that 50,000 more children in sub-Saharan countries may have died last year because of the financial crisis, the charity said.
The UK, it said, has made “efforts” to increase aid, but this was not matched in a number of other countries.
