(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-05 09:15

Development aid from the world's biggest donors fell again last year largely due to the end of big debt relief packages, the OECD said on Friday, urging rich countries to live up to their commitments to give more.

The 22 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development gave $103.7 billion in development aid in 2007.

That represented a fall of 8.4 percent from 2006 in real terms, taking into account the fall of the dollar and inflation.

Excluding debt relief, aid rose in 2007 by 2.4 percent but rich countries still need to do more, the OECD added.

Large amounts of debt relief went to Iraq and Nigeria in 2005 and 2006, pushing up the total aid figure for those years.

"Overall, most donors are not on track to meet their stated commitments to scale up aid and will need to make unprecedented increases to meet the targets they have set for 2010," the Paris-based OECD said in a statement.

Aid provided by the United States fell in real terms by 9.9 percent to $21.8 billion, due largely to the lower debt relief, which still leaves it as the world's largest single aid donor.

Aid from European Union member states fell by 5.8 percent to $62 billion while the amount from the bloc's executive, the European Commission, rose to slightly over $11 billion.

Major donors have pledged to increase aid to poor countries significantly by 2010.

"They will need to make unprecedented increases to meet their 2010 targets," the OECD said in a statement.

Campaign group ActionAid said counting debt relief artificially inflated aid figures in the previous years. "This constant failure by rich countries to meet their commitments to the poor must end. It's time for them to set and stick to yearly targets to increase aid," Action Aid policy director Jesse Griffiths said in a statement.