Madote.com
According to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Foreign Assistance, Eritrea is the only African nation that has not requested US aid for the fiscal year of 2011.
In keeping with its self-relaince policy, the government of Eritrea stopped requesting any financial assistance from the United States since 2005, and fully cut-off all third party NGOs that were financially sponsored by the United States after 2006.
According to the Eritrean government, it firmly believes that foreign assistance breeds a culture of dependency that shackles African countries into a cycle of poverty.
Moreover, a growing number of economic experts are now taking the same position as Eritrea’s government by suggesting aid to Africa is doing more harm than good. Economist such as Dambisa Moyo argues aid to Africa is making African countries poorer. Moyo, who has a Doctorate in Economics from Oxford University, and a Masters from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, believes foreign aid is “easy money that fosters corruption and distorts economies, creating a culture of dependency and economic laziness” (ABC).
The following chart below shows the top 10 highest aid recipients from the United states. Please keep in mind, these figures are only from the United States, and do not include other European and Eastern nations that contribute substantially to their yearly fiscal budgets.
| Rank | Nations | US Assistance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egypt | 1,558,000,000 |
| 2 | Kenya | 713,951,000 |
| 3 | Nigeria | 647,748,000 |
| 4 | South Africa | 586,350,000 |
| 5 | Ethiopia | 583,519,000 |
| 6 | Tanzania | 549,622,000 |
| 7 | Uganda | 480,302,000 |
| 8 | Sudan | 439,979,000 |
| 9 | Mozambique | 415,071,000 |
| 10 | Zambia | 408,760,000 |
Chart Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and development
