How Well is Aid Spent?

Guy De Launey, a BBC correspondent in Phnom Penh, has filed this insightful report on the size of Cambodia's dependency on foreign aid.

Already, more than half of the national budget comes from such contributions.

And over the next three years Cambodia will receive a further $1.5bn from donor countries.

The BBC article deals with a wide range of items and touches on how long-term benefits ultimately rest on skills development over mere cash donations.

The charity Action Aid believe that donor countries themselves are partly to blame for the plight of Cambodia's people.

They say that almost half the amount of aid goes on 'technical assistance', and that the 700 or so international consultants working in the country earn more than Cambodia's 160,000 civil servants put together.

According to a report released by Action Aid, consultants in Cambodia are too bogged down writing reports and should instead be transferring their international expertise to Cambodian staff.

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