PNG tops Aussie AID

AUSTRALIA’S top five bilateral aid recipients in 2011-12 are expected to be Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Vietnam, according to the Australian budget handed down in Canberra last night.
Foreign minister Kevin Rudd said PNG would receive A$482 million compared with A$452.1 million this year in the overseas development assistance budget.
The next highest recipient, the Solomon Islands, will receive A$26l million.
Rudd said that Australian aid worldwide would increase to A$4,836 million (0.35% of GNI), up from A$4,362 million (0.33% of GNI) in 2010-11.
New measures totalling A$1.9 billion over the next four years will deliver on the government’s election and other commitments on water and sanitation, avoidable blindness, education, ma­ternal and child health, and ending violence against women.
“Most of this new assistance will go to our region, particularly Indonesia and the Pacific,” he said.
“The aid budget for 2011-12 continues to demonstrate our commitment to the millennium development goals, particularly on poverty, education, maternal and child health, and water and sanitation.