The Role of Foreign Aid in the Development of Sub-Saharan Africa

Authored By:

S. George

,

November 6, 2021

Foreign aid can be defined as “financial or technical help given by one country’s government to another country to assist social and economic development or to respond to a disaster” (Oxfam n.d.). This is often in the form of grants, loans and subsidies, but also includes technical advice, training and commodities (Wells 2015). Annually, Official Assistance gives $134.38 billion in aid globally, with $36 billion going to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)— the most of any region by around $15 billion (OECD, 2015). Despite this, it is the poorest region in the world. Sub-Saharan African countries require aid to finance large investment projects needed for growth and development as borrowing on the open market is made difficult by poor sovereign credit ratings and they are not considered creditworthy.

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