|
  |
|
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bush budget stints poor countries on education
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Bush administration's proposed 2004 budget does not include any money for an international program to put primary school children in poor countries in school and earmarks just $75 million for the fund financing debt relief for poor nations. Development experts warmly welcomed the overall increase in foreign aid announced Monday but said it was a bit disappointing that these two international programs appeared to have missed out. "There is nothing in the budget designated for the education fast track initiative," said George Ingram, the executive director fo the Basic Education Coalition, a group of 16 development organizations. "I think the administration has had a lukewarm attitude toward fast track." Helping a handfulThe Education for All program was designed by rich countries to help poor ones reach the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal to get all primary school age children around the world into school by 2015. A study by the World Bank last year found that 88 countries out of 155 surveyed would probably miss the 2015 goal. So the bank picked out a handful of countries that could be put on a fast-track program costing $400 million to make sure this was achieved. At a donors meeting in December, rich countries failed to come up with the money and officials at the meeting said those countries that did not get out their check books would be named and shamed by April. But the analysts did say that some of the money from the Millennium Challenge Account may eventually be used to go to education programs in some of the countries listed under Education for All. The budget proposed only $75 million toward plugging a hole of nearly $1 billion in the trust fund which finances the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative. "On the trust fund there will be some people who would push for a larger number and perhaps the United States could put in more," said Steve Radelet, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. He said he believed that $75 million is all the money the United States needs to pay to the trust fund in 2004 and that the government could seek extra funds in later budgets. The budget also proposed $300 million in bilateral debt relief for the Democratic Republic of Congo under the HIPC program. Also, the Bush administration requested $1.55 billion from Congress to pay its 22 percent share in multilateral development banks including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Of that, $1.36 billion is for scheduled payments and $195.5 million is to clear existing overdue debt. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
