Research released by a coalition of African and UK partners reveals that Africa loses almost six and a half times the amount of money that it receives in aid.
"It says something about this country. It says something about our standing in the world and our sense of duty in helping others... in short - it says something about the kind of people we are ... And that makes me proud to be British."
As exhibited by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who made the above comment on 8 June 2013, governments of wealthy countries like to tell tales of generous aid spending and a common responsibility to help those less fortunate in the world. But there is another story to tell. And it is not a story of what is given to continents such as Africa, but of what is taken away.
Research published today reveals that whilst the continent receives $30 billion in aid a year, this figure pales in comparison to the $192 billion leaving the continent via illicit financial flows, the repatriation of multinational company profits, debt repayments, loss of skilled workers, illegal logging and fishing, and the costs imposed as a result of climate change.
When these losses are compared to overall financial inflows - including not just aid but foreign investment and remittances - Africa is left with a $58 billion a year net loss. To put it in to context, that is over one and a half times the estimated $37 billion a year extra funding it would cost to deliver universal health coverage for everyone in the world.
These figures expose the true financial relationship of wealthy countries with Africa, a relationship that is seldom mentioned by politicians. It is a relationship in which the world doesn't aid Africa, but in which Africa aids the world.
False narratives
Debates on the role of wealthy governments in ending global poverty tend to focus on how much aid we should give. UK politicians, for example, line up to defend the aid budget in a time of austerity and increasing public hostility, while the media and NGOs often publically applaud them for doing so, reinforcing the image of the UK's benevolence.
Yet despite years of public fundraising campaigns and aid 'generosity', we are still nowhere near to witnessing the end of global poverty. In fact, this aid obsession merely acts as a smokescreen that hides the true causes of global poverty and reinforces paternalistic notions of Africa as a poor and corrupt continent with helpless people in need of intervention from wealthy countries.
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