Consultants pocket $20bn [40%] of global aid: "a back-door route by the US and UK to force free-market policies which have demonstrably failed"

The Observer | Business | Consultants pocket $20bn of global aid: "Nick Mathiason | Sunday May 29, 2005 | The Observer

Consultants are creaming off a staggering $20 billion from hard-won global aid budgets. The $20bn total is 40 per cent of the international communities' overseas development pot of $50bn - money that is meant to relieve poverty in developing countries.

The World Bank has confirmed the figure for the first time: this weekend it admitted that money spent on 'technical assistance' and consultants had increased by $2bn on last year's $18bn total. A spokesman conceded that ballooning consultants' fees 'need to be addressed'. "
...
Peter Hardstaff, head of policy at the World Development Movement, said: 'This shocking £20bn figure is not just a waste of aid; it is also a back-door route by the US and UK to force free-market policies which have demonstrably failed in so many poor countries.'